The Tiger Who Knew Too Much
by Lily of Trust
Summary: AU Detective Fic. Mia is a detective, hired to rescue White Blaze from the Mob, run by the notoroious Arago. All the guys have MUCH different roles to play...PG-13 for some violence in later chapters (Oh my God I wrote!)
1. Default Chapter

The Tiger who Knew too Much

I had been buried so deep in my paperwork that I scarcely noticed the knock at my office door. I'd been working on some files the police wanted for the last case I'd had, and it had taken me weeks.

The knocking sounded again, more insistent this time, starling me out of my work-trance.

"Come in." I called, not looking up from perusing a witness testimony, "The door's unlocked."

I heard the door creak open on hinges badly in need of a little grease and tore my gaze away from the various required signatures to blink through gritty eyes at my visitor (I needed sleep). I was a little alarmed by what I saw.

Being a female private investigator in New York City meant I usually didn't get anything other than female clients. And these women were usually housewives seeking protection from abusive husbands, or looking for someone to make sure those same husbands weren't fooling around with someone younger, prettier and a little more, ahem, curvaceous. Trust me, it gets monotonous after a while.

So imagine my surprise to find a young man, no more than twenty, standing before me ringing his hands anxiously. His appearance told me he hadn't been getting much more sleep than I had. His intense blue eyes were sleep filled and blood-shot, with dark bags beneath them. His clothes were rumpled and had been slept in, probably for a few days, judging by the food stains. His shoulder length black hair was tangled and terribly mussed, and there was a faint trace of stubble on his chin.

"Can I help you?" I asked mildly, cocking my head to the side.

"Are you Detective Mia Koji?" He asked in a tired voice.

I shrugged. "Actually, it's Private Investigator, but very few people actually acknowledge that title." I smiled and gestured towards the chair opposite my desk. He sank into it and caught my gaze. There was something haunting and desperate about those eyes, almost pleading really.

"What can I do for you Mr.-?" I asked, straightening up and setting the pen I'd been using aside.

"Sanada." He said. "Ryo Sanada."

"Very well then, Mr. Sanada, what exactly brings you here?"

"Well, you see, I sort of, uh, need your help." He said sheepishly, as if embarrassed that he couldn't handle his problems on his own.

Why is it that men simply can not admit that they have troubles just as often as we women? I swallowed a sigh of annoyance and forced a pleasant smile.

"Go on." I prompted. The young man's face seemed to fall and he turned to look at his hands, clenched as they were in his lap.

"Well, you see, it's just that…my best friend, he disappeared." His voice had grown so faint I had to strain to hear him.

Ah hah! That would explain why he looked so haggard. And if I was reading him right, he more-than-likely didn't have much in the way of family and was very close to this 'friend' of his.

"You know, Mr. Sanada." I pointed out. "Missing Persons are more the Police's area, don't you think?"

"That's just the problem!" He clenched his hands into fists and bit his lip in rage. "I went to the Police with this, and they didn't believe me! They wouldn't send out anyone to look for him."

I frowned. "Well, that's strange, and I honestly don't know why they'd do that. Is your friend in trouble with the law?"

He shook his head. "No nothing like that." He seemed reluctant to tell me anything more.

"Why don't you give me a description and I'll see what I can do." I suggested, pulling a missing person form out from under an immense pile of papers. One of my many skills is the uncanny ability to know where anything is at any given time. I retrieved my pen from its resting place.

"Well, he's about three and a half feet tall." He began. I felt my eyebrows raise as I filled that in under the 'Height' category. Was his friend a midget?

"Weight?" 

"About two hundred and fifty pounds."

I stared at him for a moment. It was a good thing his gaze was still locked on his hands. "Oookkaaayy." I drawled, turning back to the form. 

"Eye color?"

"Brown."

"Hair color?"

"White with black streaks."

Interesting. This 'friend' was an overweight little person with peculiar taste in hair dyes.

"Any, uh, identifying features?" I felt rather stupid asking that question. There couldn't be many people out there who looked like this man's friend.

"He's a, uh, a…"

"Yes?"

"A White Siberian tiger." He choked out, blushing furiously.

"A I_WHAT!!!_/I" I demanded, staring at him incredulously. 

"White Siberian tiger." He repeated, a little louder this time.

"Look Mr. Sanada." I said angrily, slamming my pen down on my desk. "I don't know what you're trying to pull, but if this is some kind of practical joke, it isn't very funny."

"This I_isn't_/I a joke miss." He said hotly. "White Blaze is my best friend, and he is missing!"

I sighed and sank back down into my seat, regretting my outburst immediately. No wonder the police wouldn't handle his case; it wasn't a I_real_/I Missing Person. "Isn't this the sort of thing the handlers at the zoo or the pound are better equipped to take care of?"

"You don't understand." He stood and began to pace my small, 15x15 office. "I have reason to believe that White Blaze was kidnapped."

"Oh really?" I bit back a bark of laughter. "And who would do something like that?"

"I think it may have been the mob." He said quietly.

This time I was unable to keep the skepticism out of my voice. "And what, pray tell, would the mob want with a Siberian tiger, aside from a rug of course."

I suppose I deserved the dirty look he shot me for that one. "It's uh, sort of a long story."

A sigh escaped my lips. I had so much work to catch up on, but I had to admit that he had caught my curiosity. "Sit down and explain things, but make it quick, I have all this paperwork to do from my last case."

"Well," He began, lowering himself back down into the chair. "It'll be difficult to make it short without cutting out the important stuff, but I'll try."

I felt a grin tugging at the corner of my mouth at his informal language. This boy had no problems around strangers.

"You see, I inherited 'Blaze from a friend of mine." His face went a little dark, I realized that he must have been close to this man as well, possibly as close as he was to this tiger. "We always got along really well, Blaze and me, so he left him to me in his will. This friend of mine, h-he knew he was dying and, well, he told me that there was more to my inheritance, but that only White Blaze knew where it was."

"So, the mob kidnapped your tiger because they want your inheritance?" My eyebrows were creeping ever closer to my hairline. "What could it possibly be to attract _their_ attention? I mean, no offense, but you don't seem very, er, prosperous to me."

Mr. Sanada flushed a furious red. "Well, I'm not, not really, but I get along fine." This last was spoken defiantly. A small smile stretched my lips. The kid had spunk, there was no doubt about that. We were a lot alike in that regard, each of us trying to make it in a world unsuited to our particular personalities. I was a woman detective, and he was a young, obviously rebellious, man with a disregard for authority and a pet tiger. This was going to be interesting.

"Have you ever heard of the Shakujo jewels?" He now leaned forward, his voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper.

I felt my eyes go wide. Of course I'd heard of those jewels, who hadn't? The story behind them was that they were the largest ruby, diamond, emerald, sapphire and opal in the world, beautifully carved and faceted into perfection. I'd seen an article on them once, a few years back, and even in plain old black-and-white I'd been stunned. They'd gone missing a few months ago, after the craftsman, one Mr. Shakujo, had passed away by mysterious means. There'd been a large ruckus over it, but they'd never been found. Each jewel had been worth millions apiece.

"What about them?" I asked in a strained voice.

"The man who willed White Blaze to me was Kaosu Shakujo." He confessed. 

Suddenly my office felt far too small and constricted. It became hard to breath. "Are you trying to tell me that _you_ are the heir to the Shakujo fortune?" I managed to choke out.

He grinned ruefully. "Yeah, that's me."

"And this, this, tiger of yours may know the whereabouts of those jewels?"

"Precisely."

"But how could this tiger know where the jewels are? And even if he _did_ know, cat's don't have much of a memory."

He suddenly appeared very angry. "White Blaze is as smart as you or me, and I'm sure he knows where those jewels are." The anger dissipated and the sadness returned. "But I just want my friend back, I could care less about the jewels."

I toyed absently with a lock of my hair. This was, without a doubt, one of the more interesting cases I'd heard about in a long time.

"Why me?" I asked simply, staring into his eyes. "If you've heard of me, you know that my specialty is women in trouble, very few men ever enter this office, with the exception of the janitor."

He flushed a deep crimson. "Well, um, you see…you're sort of my last hope here. The Police wouldn't take the case, and all the other PI's in town either laughed me out of their office or were already taken up with something else."

"Well, that's flattering." I said blandly, smothering a smile at his awkward blush. "You do realize that I've never delt with the mob before. In fact, I make it a point to avoid them."

"Why's that?" He asked curiously.

I swallowed a lump in my throat. "A very dear friend of mine was killed because he was becoming too much of a threat to them. He was a Detective as well." I didn't mention the fact that I had his picture in my desk.

"I'm sorry." Was all Mr. Sanada could think to say.

"Don't worry about it, that was three years back." She waved him off. "If you came here, you obviously know my fee as well."

He nodded in response. "I can afford it." For a moment we locked eyes and I felt lightheaded as I stared at that electric blue color. I_Come on Mia._/I I told myself. I_Snap out of it._/I

"Fine kiddo." I leaned back. "I'll take your case."

"In that case, call me Ryo. 'Mr. Sanada' takes too long to say."

"All right Ryo." I smiled. "Start from the beginning, if you've got any leads, spill 'em now."

Unfortunately, he didn't. He had precious little information on the Mob. He told me he'd been getting warning notes for a week before the disappearance. He didn't know much else, but explained that he'd last seen White Blaze about two weeks ago, and that had been in Central Park. He'd taken the tiger out that afternoon, and hadn't been too alarmed when he'd disappeared for a while. Apparently the tiger did that often. When he hadn't turned up, Ryo had become a little nervous, and remembered those notes.

"That's all the information I've got for you, I'm afraid."

"I've started with less." I assured him. "And that should be more than enough to get some decent leads with anyway."

He stood to go and cast a look at the mound of papers on my desk.

"Um, what exactly I_was_/I your last case anyway?"

I chuckled a little and leaned my cheek against my fist. "A young lady came to me seeking protection from her abusive husband. He'd beaten her pretty badly. After she filed for divorce and sicked the police on him, he left the state. Part of my job was to go after him and drag him back kicking and screaming."

Ryo looked at me with something like respect. "I never would have thought you were capable of dragging anyone."

I couldn't help but chuckle. I was constantly underestimated because of my slightly frail appearance. However, I could snap most men in half without breaking a sweat.

"You're not the first to make that assumption." I reassured him. Then I sobered up. "You should go home and get some rest." I suggested. "You look like hell kid."

"I'm not I_that_/I much younger than you." He laughingly told me. "But I will admit that I haven't been sleeping much."

"Then give me your number, go home and get some rest, I'll call you if anything comes up."

He nodded and scribbled a few numbers down on an unused scrap of paper. 

" By the way," He frowned. "What was the name of that guy you just told me about?"

"It was a mister Saranbo." I replied.

"I'll talk to you tomorrow." He promised, then left, closing the door softly behind him.

"How do I get myself into these things?" I wondered aloud, pushing the paper into my back pocket. I sighed and set my chin in my hands. "I thought I swore never to get involved in any cases dealing with the Mob." I never was very good at lying to myself.

The office door swung open as if on its own. I glanced up, knowing who would be there.

"Now what have you gone and obligated yourself to?" The figure in the doorway asked crossly. "And who was that cutie who just left?"

"Just another case." I said nonchalantly. "And that 'cutie' is my newest client."

A sigh came from the person. She stepped into the shadowy office, and I saw a coffee cup in each hand.

"Kay, you're a lifesaver." I said, reaching out to clasp the steaming mug in both hands.

Kayla sighed, perching herself in the chair Ryo had just vacated, sipping her own coffee. She glared up at me out of huge green eyes, obviously ticked.

"Mia, you're working yourself into the ground." She chided me. "Have you looked at yourself in the mirror lately? You look like death warmed over."

All I could do was chuckle. Kayla and I had been friends for as long as I could remember (which isn't saying much, since I'm terminally absent-minded. I'm just lucky to be able to find the things I lose easily). She'd worked for me ever since we'd gotten out of college, and I could never figure out why. It certainly wasn't because the pay was good, we were barely scraping by. I think she actually enjoyed being my secretary, though she could have gotten the same job for triple the money at a large corporation. Her average typing speed was about 120gwam, and she knew the name, date and location of every file for every case I'd ever handled (Not to mention the fact that her coffee kept me on my feet for all those late nights). Kayla basically kept this business running.

"I don't have much of a choice Kay." I reminded her, taking a swig of java. "We've got to make ends meet somehow."

"Hah!" Kayla swung her collarbone length chestnut hair over her shoulder, eyes flashing. "You know very well that killing yourself isn't going to keep things going!"

"I'm not dying." I said, a slight smile tugging at my mouth. "And I'm in perfectly good shape."

"You've been drinking so much coffee lately that your blood's 80% caffeine!" She stood up and leaned over the desk. Like most vertically challenged people (She's only about 5 foot 3 1/2), what she lacked in height, she made up for in attitude.

"Now you're exaggerating." I said mildly.

"I swear that if you don't go home and get some sleep, I'll…I'll…"

"You'll what?"

"I'll think of something!" Kayla threw her hands into the air in total exasperation. It was all I could do to keep from snorting the coffee up my nose.

"Look," She calmed down a little. "Just promise me that after this case, you'll take a vacation."

"We can't afford that Kay." I shook my head.

"Yes we can, and we have to." She smiled at me. "I've got so much filing to catch up on, it'll take me your entire vacation just to get it done. My motives are purely selfish."

"All right." I agreed, setting my mug down with a soft I_clink_/I. "I promise that after I get through this one, I'll stick to finding lost pets for a week, okay?"

"We've got a deal." She smiled smugly.

"Good, now I have to get going."

"Where are you off to now?" She cocked her head to one side. 

"Anubis'." I replied, shrugging into my jacket. Anubis' was a popular nightspot hereabout, and I happened to be on very good terms with the owner/manager of the place.

Kayla's grin widened. "Anubis' huh?" There was a knowing gleam in her eye. "Well maybe he can talk some sense into you, Lord knows you don't listen to me."

I didn't like that look on her face. It was true that Anubis and I had been an item for a while; a very I_long_/I time ago. We'd gone our separate ways since then, but we'd always been good friends. I hadn't seen him for a few months now. He probably thought I'd dropped off the face of the planet.

"Anyway, I'd better get going." I said, fastening the jacket around me. "Do you think you can get this finished paperwork processed?" I asked.

Kayla made a face at the stack of paper on my desk. A doubtful look crossed her features. "Well, I'll see what I can do, but if I come in here with paper cuts all over my hands tomorrow, you'll know why."

I chuckled. "There's a box of Band-Aids in the top left hand drawer if things get too bad." Kayla was absolutely terrible with paper edges, her one flaw as a secretary. The corners and borders of my documents were frequently smeared with bloody fingerprints. It was a good thing I didn't deal with anyone shady, or the police would have a field day with that type of evidence.

"See ya Kay!" I waved and left the room, leaving my friend muttering over the horrendous stack of work I'd accumulated.

~


	2. Chapter 2

(standard disclaimers apply ^____________^)

The Tiger who Knew too Much

The autumn wind had a bite to it, carrying the scent of fresh grass and the countryside over the familiar smog and car exaughst of the city. I huddled deeper into my coat, wishing I had remembered to grab enough spare change for a taxi. Things were really bad if I couldn't even afford one. I stuck to the street, even though it would have been much quicker if I took a few shortcuts through the back alleys. I wasn't stupid.

It was a very good thing that my destination was only about a half-hour's walk from my office. I was chilled to the bone by the time I stepped through the double doors.

The blast of light and sound blinded my senses for a brief moment before I got used to them. The slightly smoky atmosphere swirled around me in a whirl of music and chatter. A few heads turned my way, but then they went back to their own conversations. There were also a few curious glances directed at me. This was a very classy club, and I felt definitely underdressed. My simple white blouse and sky-blue skirt were perfectly adequate in an office, but at a night club…well, I was slightly out of place. 

But I didn't have time to worry about that. I crossed over to the bar and took a seat on one of the stools. A tall man with shoulder length red hair and green eyes leaned over to smile at me.

"It's been a while Mia." He said cheerfully. "Where have you been hiding yourself?"

I sighed and gave him a tired smile. "It's been a hectic coupla months 'Nubis." I replied. "Things have been off the wall at the office."

"I heard about your last case." He began to say, wiping down the aged mahogany of the bar. "Sounds like a pretty big deal."

"No kidding." I chuckled. "Unfortunately, the young lady couldn't afford to pay me much, so I'm on another case."

"I'll bet anything that Kayla doesn't like that very much." He chuckled.

"Actually, she rather angry with me at the moment." I confessed. "I suppose I am working a little too hard."

"Then why take this case at all?" Anubis asked.

"We need the money." I sighed. "But I don't know if this new case is going to bring in all that much cash anyway."

"I repeat, why take it at all?"

"He had these eyes…" I said dreamily.

Anubis snorted at me. "You are such a sucker." He shook his head. "You'll never make ends meet if you keep this up."

I stuck my tongue out at him, and we both started to giggle. 

"Seriously though." He sobered up first. "What brings you here?"

"Oh come on 'Nubis." I grinned. "You know you hear everything first. That's part of your business, and I need some information."

"What can I help you with?" He asked nonchalantly.

"Have you heard anything about a missing tiger?" I asked in a hushed voice.

"Tiger?" Both his eyebrows went up. "Are you sure you aren't being played for a sap here Mia? Why would anyone kidnap a tiger?"

"That's what I said." I nodded. "But apparently this tiger used to belong to Kaosu Shakujo."

Anubis looked thoughtful. "I'd heard about that." He said. "Supposedly the tiger was the only one who had any knowledge about the whereabouts of those missing jewels…" A light went on behind his eyes. "OH! I see. Someone kidnapped the tiger to find the jewels, am I right?"

I grinned. "I think you may have missed your calling. You should have been a PI." 

"Not my forte, I assure you." He waved me off. "I'm sorry to say though, that I haven't heard anything about any missing tigers."

"Shit." I muttered. Anubis always heard everything before anyone else. If he didn't know anything, then it was very unlikely that anyone else did.

"Why would someone snatch a cat though?" He looked puzzled. "It's not like the thing can talk, it can't lead them anywhere."

"Supposedly this tiger is exceptionally smart." I shrugged. "But I don't have any concrete evidence of that."

Before he could reply, the lights in the room dimmed and the fluorescent lights over the stage flared brightly. A young woman about my age stood there, bathed in the glow, eyes shut. She wore a sleeveless dress of midnight blue that fell to the ground in graceful folds. Elbow-length gloves of the same hue were pulled over her forearms, and she held a cordless mike in her hand. Hair slightly darker that her dress fell behind her knees, though wisps of it still floated into her face. 

Her eyes remained closed as the small band struck up a slow dance tune. The girl smiled and opened her mouth. A heartbreakingly crystal clear sound poured forth as she began to croon the lyrics to an old love song.

One would have to be a very thick skulled person to miss the slight glaze over Anubis' eyes. I couldn't help but grin.

"Kayura's pretty good, isn't she?" I murmured. He gave me a slightly embarrassed smile.

"Can I get you anything?" He asked quickly, far too quickly.

"Ummmm, Coke please." I replied, my focus on the stage. 

"Sure you don't want something stronger?" He inquired teasingly.

"I think I'll stay sober for now." The glass clinked down next to my elbow. I wrapped my fingers around the moisture beaded cup and took a sip. A small idea was beginning to form in my mind. 

Kayura had quite a past. She'd only been working at the club for a few months, but before that, she'd been a mobster's 'doll'. Her' boyfriend' had been a fairly prominent gangster. He'd been knocked off, and his new replacement had claimed Kayura as spoils of war, so to speak. She'd been passed around like a toy, and had managed to escape someway. She never told anyone how, but her experience had left her battered inside and out.

So maybe, just maybe, Kayura would have some information that Anubis didn't. If I could just get her to talk, I might get a good lead.

By the end of the performance, I'd tried to take a sip and come up with ice. I hadn't realized that I'd been downing that thing at such a rate. 

"Refill?"

"No thanks, Kayla thinks I'm getting too much caffeine."

"I'd have to agree with her."

I shot him a dirty look. "Watch it there."

Anubis just smirked. "Let me guess, you want to talk with Kayura."

I didn't even ask how he knew that, just nodded. "Right. She might just know something you don't, I'm pretty sure she's still got some connections to the Mob, at least, it wouldn't surprise me if she did."

He just frowned. "But I thought she's in hiding from them."

"Maybe," I shrugged. "But she still might know someone who can give me some kind of tip."

So when the young singer's second song had drawn to a close, Anubis motioned for her to come over to the bar. She caught my eye and both her eyebrows went up. She knew who I was, if by reputation only.

Kayura turned and signaled to the musicians behind her to take five. She slipped off the stage and over to where I was seated, ignoring the catcalls from the male contingent of the crowd. She'd had a lot of practice at that.

"You wanted something?" She asked in a hushed voice as she settled herself down on the barstool next to me, arranging her skirt around her.

"Ky, this is my friend Mia." Anubis introduced me. "I believe I've mentioned her before."

"Yes, I think you have." She replied, her gaze switching to me. "You haven't been around here for a few months though."

"Things have been busy." I shrugged.

"Can I help you with anything?"

"Actually, yes, I think you can." I leaned forward and lowered my voice. The last thing I needed was to bring trouble down on this place if someone overheard this conversation. "I need to know if you've heard anything, anything at all, about an abducted tiger."

"Y-you mean from the Mob, don't you?" Kayura swallowed hard, her eyes darting around the room, apparently she had the same thoughts I did.

"Exactly. This tiger may know something about a certain set of missing jewels…"

"The Shakujo?" The other girl asked, eyes going wide.

"Right." I nodded. "Can you tell me anything?"

Kayura shook her head. "I'm afraid I've been out of circuit for too long. There were rumors that someone among the Mob (I'm not sure who) was going to attempt a heist involving those jewels but I was out of there before any action was ever taken." Her voice took on a slightly acidic tone. "And besides, I've been distancing myself from them for a reason you know."

"I realize that." I said sympathetically. "I know your story. Can you at least direct me to someone who might me able to tell me something?"

She chewed at her lip for a moment. Anubis had moved down the bar to serve another customer fleeing the autumn weather. Apparently without the presence of someone she felt she could trust, Kayura lost her confidence. 

"I promise you that anything you say will be kept in confidence." I reassured her. "Who would I tell? As far as I'm concerned this conversation never took place."

She shot me a look of gratitude and lowered her voice down to barely above a whisper. "Do you have something I could write with?"

I tugged a pen free from the left pocket of my jacket, along with a small spiral note pad. I passed them to her and watched as she bent over them, scribbling away behind the curtain of her hair.

"These people were friends of mind, men who wanted to escape the Mob just as I did. If anyone can help you," She said quietly. "They can."

"Thank you Kayura." I replied. "I'll cover this conversation as much as possible. Your name will never come up."

She nodded slowly, but I noticed the anxiety in her eyes. Anubis crossed back over to us and leaned over the bar. 

"If you ladies are quite finished." He began. "You might want to cut this conversation short. You know very well that all sorts of people hang out around here."

I took his warning at face value. The nightclub served all kinds, whether or not they were of shady background. Money was money, and as long as it was good, Anubis' was perfectly willing to serve up food and entertainment. One could never tell who might be listening in.

I crunched down on a partially melted ice cube as Kayura stood and nodded politely to both me and Anubis. She then turned and made her way back towards the stage, where the band was just warming up for their next set. I waved goodbye to my friend and stood to go.

"You sure you have to leave?" Anubis asked. "It's been a while since you've been here."

"Oh dear, if only I could." I shook my head regretfully. "But I left Kayla with a mound of paperwork and I'd really like to follow up on this lead. I'll probably be back soon though, plenty of, uh, shady characters hang out around here."

Anubis just chuckled. "Don't I know it." He waved back to me. "Take care of yourself, and for heaven's sake I_listen_/I to Kay one in a while and go get some rest!"

"I will, I promise." With that I took my leave, a good lead in my pocket and enough caffeine in my system to see me home.

~

I fished through my purse irritably, absolutely positive that my keys were disappearing on purpose. I ground my teeth in frustration at my lack of success. They had to be there somewhere! I didn't remember taking them out. Just when I was about to go to the apartment across the hall and ask if I could call the superintendent, my fingers brushed something hard and angular. 

"Ah HAH!" I exclaimed triumphantly, holding the illusive key up to the hall light. It had taken long enough. Now it was just a matter of working the lock. The thing was a little tricky, requiring a little jiggle and twist to force it open. To my surprise, the door swung open on silent hinges, slightly alarming as they usually made a racket. 

"Huh?" I stepped in, kicking off my pumps as I paused by the door, noticing a light on in the living room. My stomach gave a lurch and I reached for the little revolver I kept in my purse (much easier to find than the keys). This wasn't the first time I'd had a breaking and entering, and I'd learned from experience that just the sight of a gun was enough to discourage most thieves. It was a good thing that I kept any really valuable jewelry in the false bottom of my dresser drawer. 

I crept stealthily down the small hallway, thanking my many lucky stars for that course in the police academy (a rudimentary part of every PI's training). 

"Okay, I'm warning you…I've got a gun, I know how to use it, and my neighbor will call the police the second it goes off. 

A soft chuckle answered me. "I'm well aware of that."

I nearly dropped my gun. My hands started to shake. I thought I knew that voice, but if it was who I thought it would be….that just wasn't possible.

But though my mind had gone into deer-in-headlights mode, my feet kept moving, almost as if by their own volition. Before I knew it, I was standing in the entrance to my tiny living room; and sprawled languidly on the armchair was someone I never thought I'd see again.

"S-Sage?" I stammered. My brain seemed to have shut off completely, and I was held, frozen in the doorway.

He just smiled slightly and stood. "Yes, it's me."

My mouth worked, but no sound emerged. This couldn't be happening, not unless the rules of the universe had suddenly been changed without my knowledge. What next? Would he turn into some kind of monster? Was I just dreaming? Maybe a pig would go flying by my window. At the moment, that seemed more likely.

I finally managed to get my voice to work properly. 

"But…you're dead!"

Well, he I_should_/I have been anyway. It had been all over the newspapers. He was the friend I'd mentioned earlier in the evening to Ryo; the one who'd been killed by the Mob. Last I'd heard before his death, he'd been very close to getting enough evidence to shut away a notorious Mob boss by the name of Arago. That guy had been avoiding arrest for years, just because nobody actually had any concrete evidence that he'd _done_ any of the crimes he'd been accused of. Rumor had it that Sage actually had something on him. He'd become too much of a threat and had been eliminated. Which was why I was so surprised to see him.

"Rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated." He said with a wry smile.

"Uh…" I replied intelligently. Confusion just about flooded my mind, wrapping my brain in a fog-like blanket.

"That's hardly the response I was anticipating." He admitted.

My hands balled into fists, and anger burned through the bewilderment.

"You I_JERK!!_/I" I screeched. "I THOUGHT YOU WERE DEAD!! SO DID EVERYBODY ELSE!! HOW COULD YOU DO THAT TO ALL OF US??!!"

The old man upstairs thumped the butt of his cane noisily against the floor of his apartment (and subsequently, the ceiling of mine), the way he did whenever things got loud in my home. 

I stopped shrieking and turned the full force of my worst Dagger Glare of Death™ on him. Stronger men than he had crumpled beneath that gaze and it had the desired effect.

Sage stepped forward and took my hands in his. "Look Mia, I apologize for scaring you, but-"

Too bad I was far too pissed to listen. "But WHAT?" I hissed, right in his face. "How the HELL are you still alive, huh? Can you answer me that? They called me in to identify your Goddamned BODY! That was YOU under that sheet!"

He winced and dropped my hands, and ran one of his own through his hair, pushing that trademark lock out of his face; for about two seconds. It flopped back down, but he was too deep in thought to notice, or care.

"Mia, you didn't let me finish." He said mildly. "I was GOING to say that I didn't have any choice but to do what I did."

I crossed my arms and leaned against the doorframe. "What exactly was that?"

"Fake my death." He answered simply.

"F-fake your..?" I blinked a few times. That certainly explained a lot, but HOW? As I'd recently, uh, told him, I'd been called in by forensics to identify the body they'd found riddled with bullet holes in some cheap alley. They'd discovered my phone number in the address book in his wallet, and since they knew me anyway, (I had occasional contact with the NYPD) I'd been the first one they'd contacted.

I knew I'd never forget the experience. The chief forensic scientist (who I only knew vaguely) had flipped back the white cloth with a practiced movement. I remembered the horrible feeling of anxiety clenching my gut in and iron fist. There was no mistaking the shock of wild blonde hair, or the delicate features. My stomach had plummeted to somewhere around my ankles, and a lump of steel had suddenly developed in my throat. I had stumbled backwards and vaguely heard the other woman asking if I was alright, and did I know the man?

Know him? We'd graduated from College together, I'd known him since my sophomore year in high school. He'd been practically my best friend (contrary to popular rumor, it had never been anything more than that), and she wanted to know if I recognized the body….

I was pulled back to the present by a sharp pain in my palm. I realized I had tightened my fist so hard that my nails dug into the skin, cutting red half-moons into it.

"But…why?" I looked up from studying my hands to shoot him an utterly puzzled look. "What could possibly make you want to do that? All of us, all your friends, we were so…" I trailed off. I wasn't the only person who had been shocked, and utterly grief stricken. Sage had been a rather popular person, though he had few really close friends. Those of us who knew him best just couldn't understand how he'd been stupid enough to get himself killed.

"I'm so sorry." He said, there were layers of sorrow in his voice. I suddenly realized that by doing what he had, and making himself disappear, he'd literally had to start a completely different life, leaving behind all his friends and everything he'd ever known. It couldn't have been easy. My anger melted like a snowflake on one's tongue. 

"What could possibly have driven you to-?"

This time, _I_ was the one cut off. A sharp, humorless chuckle came from Sage's direction.

"Exactly what popular rumor thought." He said grimly. "I was too damn close to uncovering something big. A huge drug smuggling ring run by-"

Goodness, there was a lot of interrupting going on. "Arago." I replied, just as bluntly.

He nodded once. "Hit the nail on the head." He slumped back into the armchair. "I was too much of a threat. I was going to be 'eliminated' and I knew it."

"But why?" I was still baffled. Sage had never been one to run from any enemy, not for as long as I'd known him. "If you had some kind of evidence, why not just turn it in and THEN flee the country?"

This time he snorted. "I DID. I gave the pictures, the samples, everything to a source I THOUGHT could be trusted." He shook his head at himself. "What a fool I was. I was sold out before I turned around twice. Only the fact that ANOTHER source tipped me off saved my hide"

I seated myself on the couch, a thoughtful look on my face. "So you faked your own death before they could get to you." I pieced the rest of the story together. "And you hoped that they'd assume some other branch of the same smuggling ring had taken you out first."

"You've still got it." He grinned, a real grin this time.

"Thanks." I replied off hand. "But what I DON'T get is how you pulled it off, and why you're coming back now of all times?"

"Well, I'll take the first question." He stood and started to pace. He always did that when he was trying to make a point. I remembered that he used to do that whenever we had those late-night arguments over large cups of coffee during college study groups. A part of me reminded me that Kayla would be thrilled to know he was still in one piece. I had to pull my attention back to the topic at hand.

"It wasn't easy. It had to be convincing the Mob had to actually have papers confirming an autopsy to be convinced that I was out of their hair for good." He never stopped pacing. "Needless to say, having some hired daredevil impersonating me hurling himself from a bridge wasn't going to do the trick."

"You didn't hire somebody to kill himself, did you?" I asked, utterly mortified by the thought.

Sage shot me a look of pure contempt. "Give me a little more credit, will you Mia? What kind of pitiful excuse for a human being do you take me for?"

"One who dupes his friends into thinking he's been murdered." I replied pleasantly. 

He winced. "I had that coming, didn't I?"

"Yes you did." I said, reaching over and catching his hand as he continued to pace. I squeezed it before letting go and settling back against the couch cushions. "But don't take my word for it. Just wait 'til Kayla finds out."

The blood drained from his face.

"I'm so dead." He moaned quietly.

"You will be if you don't finish the story."

"Ah, yes." Sage said weakly. The mere thought of being at the receiving end of Kayla's tongue lashing was enough to have any sane man quaking in his boots, but the same could be said for most female's scorn.

He went back to pacing, to and fro, back and forth. I began to wonder if he would wear a trench in my carpet. No use trying to stop him though. Some of his best ideas came to him when his feet were moving. The others came when he was utterly still. Go figure.

"So what DID you do?"

"Isn't it obvious? I paid off the head of the forensics lab. She was a friend of mine anyway, and after I explained the whole situation, she was glad to help.

"You did? I would never have guessed. Her face was so….deadpan."

"She was the head of her drama club in high school."

"Uh huh." A familiar angry heat overwhelmed me again. "But why drag ME into it? You must have known that they'd find my number on you." My eyes narrowed. "Or did you set THAT up too?"

I could scarcely hear his voice. "I'm really very sorry about that Mia. I needed someone that the officials knew well enough. If you said that the body under the sheet was me, and the autopsy report said the same, then I was home free."

"I could really learn to hate you for that."

He mock growled at me before pacing again. "You don't get it."

"Actually, I was just kidding. I understand, and I forgive you….for crying out loud, sit DOWN! You're going to wear right through into the downstairs neighbor's kitchen!"

Sage took a seat with a sheepish expression on his face.

"You never did answer my second question though. Why come back now, of all times?" If he'd wanted to vanish, it certainly didn't make any sense to reappear after the theft of the Shakujo jewels, did it?

His lavender eyes went steely gray and I was taken aback by the barely concealed rage in his expression. Then he said four words I never EVER thought I'd hear from him.

"They took my wife."

My jaw hit the floor.

"SAY WHAT?!" I just about screeched. The old man above resumed pounding. I was too busy hyperventilating to notice.

"Y-you…you're…I mean…"

He smiled slightly at my astonishment.

"Yeah."

"H-how…when…?"

"Two years ago. I met her in Berlin, that's where I ended up, by the way, Germany. Her name's Michelle." There was this utterly foolish grin on his face, and I couldn't help but smile. Whoever this person was, she had his heart wrapped around her pinky finger. I wondered if she knew that.

I rolled in my jaw before I tried to stand and tripped over it. My head was really starting to ache.

"Oh." I said weakly.

"Jealous?" He poked impishly.

"Idiot." I snapped, regaining my composure. "What do you think? Of COURSE not!"

"Kinda didn't think so." He leaned back into the cushions with a smug look on his face. I resisted the urge to wipe it off.

"But what would they want with her?" I was now thoroughly puzzled.

He shrugged, but there was a tenseness about him that betrayed how very enraged he still was. 

"Be damned if I know. She's a vet. I just don't understand."

"A WHAT?" Dear god, it all fell into place.

"You know, an animal doctor?"

"Y-yeah." I replied faintly.

"Why do you look so shocked?"

I groaned and let my head fall into my hands. Why me? What ever possessed me to take that case? Things just kept getting worse and worse.

"Mia?"

"Listen Sage, you picked a really BAD time to announce the fact that you're still alive and kickin'." I outlined the job I'd just taken, leaving out no details. As I'd mentioned this evening, Sage was a PI too, and I figured he might be able to snag some detail I'd missed.

"Well that does explain a lot, doesn't it?" He asked in a grim tone that boded no good for anyone involved with either kidnapping.

"Yeah." I nodded. "Whatever they're doing it seems they need a veterinarian to make sure this tiger stays in good health." Something occurred to me "Wait a sec, there's plenty of other doctors in the city, why on earth would they target your wife?"

"It was sheer coincidence that we happened to be back in town." Sage's voice was strangely toneless. "You see, my aunt passed away three days ago and we were attending the funeral. I don't know if they knew WHO Michelle was, or if it was just pure chance that they took her. She'd mentioned to one of the other people at the funeral about her profession. My family had never met her before, you know how they can be."

Did I ever! Wait a sec, something about that story didn't quite check….

"You told you family that you were still alive? But you didn't tell me?!"

He cringed. "No matter what I say, I'm still screwed, aren't I?"

"You'd better believe it."

Silence fell between the two of us for a few moments. I let my eyes fall shut and rubbed at my temples. This had to have been the longest work day I'd had in quite a while. I mentally recapped everything that had occurred, and remembered the slip of paper Kayura had given me. I fumbled with the inside pocket of my coat (I hadn't had the chance to take it off) and pulled out the slip of paper. The little scribbles of names and numbers meant nothing to me. I passed it to Sage.

"Here. Do you recognize any of these?"

He frowned and scanned the text, eyes flickering back and forth across the lines. I watched in mild amusement as his eyebrow (brow? Who could tell?) shot up in surprise at something he saw.

"Who gave you this?"

"A singer at Anubis'." I replied, keeping to my promise not to say anything else.

I guess something in my voice gave me away, for Sage just gave me a knowing look and turned his attention back to the paper.

"Well, what do you think?"

"I'd say whoever gave you this had some extensive connections." He replied somberly, handing me the paper back. "These people were all rather high-up in the ranks, if you catch my drift. But if what I've heard is true, then they cut off all their connections with the Mob. I'll bet they probably stay in touch though. They'd have some food info."

*Hmm, so Kayura really DID give me some legit stuff.* I mused to myself as I stuffed it back into my pocket.

"I'll have to check it out tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?"

"Well it IS late." I pointed out. "And besides, I'll bet all those people on that list are either asleep or busy with something else. Ticking someone off is NOT the best way to get their cooperation you know."

"Yes." He nodded. "We'll start on this tomorrow."

I raised an eyebrow. "We?"

Sage flashed a rather caustic grin. "You don't expect me to just sit back and do NOTHING do you? After all, I've got my own grievances to settle."

I sighed and admitted that he did have a point. I had no right to deny him the chance to find out where his wife may have been taken.

"Okay, but I am NOT splitting the take with you this time." I warned him. We're running on a right enough budgit as it is."

"I'm not interested in the money." He reassured me.

"Good. Then I won't charge you rent for sleeping on my couch."

Okay, so this time HIS eyebrow went up. "Oh I will, will I?"

I snorted. "You don't expect me to just kick you out on the street with THAT poking around do you? Geez, what kind of friend would I be if I did that?"

Though I had been joking, his expression turned sober and he turned to me.

"Mia, I can't apologize enough. I never meant to worry you, or cause you any kind of grief. You know I'd never hurt you or Kay…I just didn't have any other choice. The less you knew, the less of a target you were." Sage said earnestly.

I just smiled. "We both know I've already forgiven you, and that you're just saying that to try to keep Kayla from chewing you out."

All he could do was laugh with me.

"Anyway, I'm going to hit the sack." I said, getting to my feet and stretching. I haven't been getting nearly enough sleep lately."

"No kidding." He stood as well. "You look like shit kiddo."

"I'm older than you." As I stuck my tongue out at him, something occurred to me. Hadn't I said the EXACT same words earlier that day to Ryo? I smiled at the thought of introducing those two. Something told me that I was in for a VERY interesting couple of days.


	3. (no title)

Welcome to the Madness that is Chapter Three.

All R&R welcome, even the bad stuff.

I was awakened around seven o-clock by the all-too-familiar sounds of the city: blaring car horns, the 'colorful' language of the cabbies and other commuters stuck in the morning rush. The faint scent of smog wafted through a crack in the glass.

*I really need to put some cardboard over that* I thought to myself, sitting up and rubbing at my eyes. I had to kick the blankets back, as they were tangled around my lower body, I wasn't exactly the world's quietest sleeper. I swung my legs out of the bed, brushing errant strands of red-brown hair from my eyes. 

An involuntary shiver worked its way up my spine as my bare feet hit the cold floor. Damn. I'd forgotten that the throw rug was on the OTHER side of the bed, and that the uncovered floor was always a chill factor.

With a jaw-splitting yawn and a cat-like stretch, I headed out the bedroom and stumbled into the kitchen to find myself something microwaveable for breakfast. Hmm, maybe the left over spaghetti? Pizza's always good.

A soft creaking sound from behind me and the sound of bare feet on the linoleum of the kitchen.

*Wha-?* I spun around not-so-quickly. My reflexes were shot to hell from too much caffeine, too little sleep and less than nutritious food. I didn't REMEMBER anyone crashing on the couch…Kayla hadn't mentioned dropping by, so it couldn't be her….

The site of tussled blonde hair and sleep-shot violet eyes reminded me just what had occurred last night.

"G'mornin.." I managed to slur. Sage shot me a sleepy grin and slumped down in one of the hard kitchen chairs.

"Sleep well?" He asked, pushing his hair out of his face.

"Okay." I nodded, not quite up to speaking in anything more than monosyllables just yet. "Had too much coffee to sleep."

"I know, me too." He nodded. I popped a slice of cold pizza into the microwave and punched in forty five seconds.

"Well, you're certainly eating well." He commented wryly.

"'S too early to hit ya." I grumbled. "'R else y'd be face first 'n the wall."

"Ouchie." Sage moved in front of me and caught my wrist. "Mia, why don't you go take a shower, okay? You don't look so good. I'll see if I can whip up something out of the junk in the fridge."

I didn't even need to consider that. He was offering first dibs on the bathroom, AND a meal better than I could put together. I snatched up the opportunity.

"There's a catch though." He cautioned. "You do the dishes."

I just nodded, too eager to hit the shower to complain.

"Good. Then hand me a chisel and let me get to work at the freezer." Sage joked, pushing me out the kitchen door. "And for heaven's sake, put some clothes on!"

I looked down at my attire, one long gray T-shirt, and a pair of Looney Tunes boxers that my cousin had given me as a gag gift. Maybe he had a point.

Fifteen minutes later, I was feeling a shade less like a zombie and more like a human being. A clean pair of slacks and a blouse helped immensely. By the time I'd gotten my hair pulled back into a French braid the scent of SOMETHING from the kitchen caught my nose and my stomach let loose with a floor-shaking growl.

"Hungry?" Sage's teasing voice came from the same direction of the smell.

"Is this some kind of trick question?" I retorted.

"Well I see YOU'RE feeling better." He grinned as I rounded the door to the kitchen and took a seat.

I chose to ignore him in favor of the plate he set before me.

"My GOD! Are those omelets?" I asked, scarcely able to believe what I was seeing (not to mention smelling)

He just shrugged. "Michelle can't cook to save her life, so I had to pick up a few things here and there."

"No, really?" I asked sarcastically before digging in.

"I take it the shower's empty?" Sage asked hopefully. I could only nod in reply, as my mouth was full.

"Then I'll just help myself. I happen to have a change of clothes with me." He gestured towards a duffel bag sitting beside the couch. I must have missed it in all of the confusion. "Remember, you're doing the dishes."

Again, all I could do was nod happily.

It was somewhere around eight thirty by the time we finally made it to the office. I don't own a car, and Sage told me that he'd turned the rental car he'd been using back in. So I hailed us both a cab, not really feeling like making the long trek to the office this morning. The sky was a flat slate gray, portending a nasty deluge to come.

"So," Sage began, breaking the silence between the two of us. "Who's this guy you're working for? You mentioned that he's the heir to the Shakujo fortune, and that he wanted you to find this tiger of his, but nothing more than that,"

I grimaced and turned my attention out the window. That was the one thing I HADN'T explained. I was in the habit of never giving away any more info on my clients or sources than I had too, and I suppose I'd just forgotten.

"He said his name was Ryo Sanada…he's a little younger than you or me, but…damn, he just looked so I_helpless_/I…" I bit my lip. "You know, I never thought I'd ever get involved in any cases linked to the mob…especially after…" 

Sage had to cough to break the awkward quiet. "I guess that was partly my fault.. wasn't it?"

"Sort of." I admitted. "But it was probably safer that way, I mean look at you!" I tried a half-hearted attempt at a smile. "Not exactly a good way to go."

The cabbie cast a queer look towards the backseat as we both cracked up.

"AIIIEEE!!!! MIA!!! THAT GUY LOOKS JUST LIKE-"

I clamped a hand over Kayla's mouth, pressing a finger to my lips. 

"Hush Kay, I know. This IS Sage…back from the dead I suppose you could say."

Kayla peeled my fingers away from her face and gawked for a brief moment at the young man who shuffled his feet in embarrassment, a crooked grin on his face. 

"Ummm…" He coughed nervously as my friend raised an eyebrow at him and crossed her arms expectantly.

"What do you have to say for yourself?" She asked, her voice dangerously low. "I assume there's I_some_/I sort of explanation!"

"I'll give you the full scoop later Kay." I grabbed her elbow and towed her towards the office. "For now, we've got some calls to make and a few leads to follow up on. I want any files you can dig up on…" I yanked the piece of paper from my pocket and scanned it briefly.

"Anybody you can find who was once involved with the mob and went by these names: Cale, Sehkmett, Dais and Sabrestryke…"

Kayla nodded. "Righto Boss Lady! I'm on it!" She turned back to her desk to plop down into her chair and jiggle her computer mouse to deactivate the screen saver. A look of concentration appeared on her face as she skimmed through the police files open to our agency.

"Gimme about an hour Mia, I should have something good for you by then, last known address or I_something!_/I"

Sage blinked once in surprise, and I had to giggle at the expression on his face. He looked like someone had come up behind him and wacked him on the head with a two by four!

"I've still got some paperwork to finish up with." I said aloud. "By the way, Kayla, were there any calls for me?"

Kayla nodded absently from the comp. "Yup, Mr. Sanada called earlier, about a half hour before you walked in. He said he wanted to talk to you later."

I considered that for a moment. It was true that I had some new info for him, but things were still a bit too nebulous for any solid facts or answers. There wasn't much one could do in a half day. Not that I hadn't Itried/I…

~

A half hour later, I had finally finished the last of those annoying forms. With a relieved sigh, I set the police station's copy on Kayla's desk and put our own print in the filing cabinet.

"Any luck Kayla?" I turned to my secretary, leaning back against drawers. Sage looked up from the armchair he'd been sitting in, interest restored.

Kayla flashed me a triumphant smile. "Most definitely! The names you gave me were all aliases, used for their dealings in the underground. Their real names are, respectively of course, Sasaki Kujuurou, Yamanouchi Naotoki Jirogourou, Rajura, and Kenbukyou…umm, there's no surname for the last guy."

"It's all right Kayla…do you have anything else on them?"

"Well, given that this is the first information I've been able to find…I have the current occupation of Mr. Sasaki."

"Yes, and?" Sage leaned forward.

Kayla giggled "He designs alarm systems!"

I had to grin. "Now there's irony for you! Why'd he leave the service of our little friends?"

Her expression sobered, gaze focused back on the computer screen. "I'm afraid he did a total one-eighty on his superiors. Apparently they'd kidnapped a young child, and were holding him for ransom. The head honchos gave this guy guard duty, so he got to know the kid pretty well. After the child's parents missed the turn in date for the money, Arago shot him through the head…the kid, not Kujuurou."

Sage and I gaped at her, utterly stunned by the account of cruelty.

"So he flipped out. Granted, this is all his own testimony, so I don't know how much is fact, and how much is fiction. But he actually applied to police headquarters for witness protection."

"I don't blame him." Sage muttered.

"Served a short term in jail, but since he was basically a tech guy, not a hit man, nobody could blame him for much except selling dangerous materials to dangerous people."

I sighed heavily, crossing my arms and frowning at a point on the opposite wall. "Last known address?" 

She nodded and handed me a printout. A quick glance at it revealed that we could probably get there in about forty-five minutes by taxi, given the traffic this time of day.

"Come on Sage, let's hit the road!" I beckoned over my shoulder as I shrugged into my jacket.

"Mia, we'd better be careful." He cautioned me, even as he pulled on his own overcoat. "Ex-gang members tend to be Ivery/I paranoid, he's probably got more weapons in his apartment that the entire police force!"

I nodded in agreement. "Yes, I know. But if what Kayla tells us about his past is true, then he should be willing to help us after we explain what we need."

"I hope so." Sage muttered "and I wish you'd tell me WHO this source of yours is, so I could figure out whether or not we're walking into one gigantic trap."

"Trust me." I grinned as we left the office. "It's perfectly reliable."

~

"I still don't think this is a very good idea."

"Calm down. Kayla called ahead and he agreed to an interview at the very least." I reassured my blonde friend. 

"Huh." Was his only reply. 

We stood before a five-story apartment building, located in one of the more dilapidated neighborhoods. A few of the windows were boarded up, or covered by cardboard and newspaper. The door appeared to be the most solid thing about the entire complex; thick metal and small fiberglass windows. The structure itself was of concrete blocks, rough, but very resistant.

"Looks like a good place to hole up if you're looking to make a stand." I observed nonchalantly.

"Yeah, a regular fortress." Sage replied.

"Think it's got a dungeon too?" I joked.

"Let's not even think about that." He shuddered, much to my amusement.

"Well, we should get a move on…" I walked up to those imposing doors and range the bell next to the apartment number, waiting for a response from the other end. We didn't have to dawdle long.

An unmistakably male voice could be heard through the speaker. 

"Who's there?"

I coughed delicately before speaking. "My name's Mia Koji. I believe my secretary called ahead and cleared a meeting for me?"

"Ah, yes." At least there was a note of recognition in his voice. "Come on up." There was an electric buzzing noise and Sage pushed at the door handle. It swung open on silent hinges, revealing a bare stairwell, metal boxes for mail embedded into the wall on our right side. A lone light bulb swung from its fixture above our heads, dimly lighting the entrance hall. There was an unmistakable chill in the air that had nothing to do with the autumn weather outside. Somebody had the air conditioner running. I snuggled deeper into my coat, noticing that my breath was coming out in puffs of steam.

"Is this guy out of his mind?" Sage muttered, turning up the collar on his own jacket. "It's /I_freezing_/I in here!"

I shrugged. "Maybe some of that alarm machinery doesn't work too well in the heat."

My friend snorted wryly. "Then it certainly won't survive New York summers."

I laughed shortly. "Hey, it could be in the experimental stage!" 

Without any further chit-chat, we made our way up the stairs, being careful not to touch the chill metal railing.

Our man lived on the third floor, behind a door even thicker than the one at the entrance. I raised an eyebrow at Sage, who simply gestured towards the doorbell, indicating that I should go ahead and ring it.

"You weren't kidding when you said he was going to be paranoid…" I muttered, even as I pressed the button.

Sage smirked. "You haven't had as much experience with these types as I have." He replied.

"Experience hmm?" I cocked my head to the side as I heard the chime of the bell on the opposite side of the door.

"Who do you think I meant when I said I was betrayed by an inside contact?" He countered.

"Huh." I mused, taking that information in and storing it along with the rest of the bulk of news I'd digested over the past few days.

We didn't get a chance to discuss that any longer, for the broad door before us cracked open, a single blue eye and a sliver of face visible through the slit. A chain was also in sight, telling us he had yet to undo the dead bolt.

"I'm Detective Koji…this is my…associate, Sage Date." I re-introduced myself, and my companion, who acknowledged it with a nod of his head.

The blue orb swept over the both of us, taking us in with a glance that was even colder than the air surrounding us. The door clicked shut, and the sound of a bolt being slid back from its case met our ears. The entranceway swung back open, and we got a good look at our informant.

A wild shock of midnight blue hair that rivaled even Kayura's in color topped both the eye we'd seen and its twin. He was very tall, towering over me by at least three inches, putting him at about Sage's eye level. A pair of worn jeans and a dark gray sweatshirt made up his attire; obviously he hadn't planned on going out.

The one distinguishing mark that locked him into my memory was a cross-shaped scar beneath his left eye. A part of my mind wondered idly how he'd received such an unusual defect. Another part replied that I probably didn't want to know.

"Kujuurou Sasaki?" I inquired.

"Call me Cale." He replied gruffly. "I'm used to it."

I nodded. "Alright then Cale…we have a few questions we'd like to ask you."

"Come in." He said shortly, stepping away from the doorway and gesturing us both inside. Exchanging a glance, both Sage and I entered the room.

The shades were drawn over the windows, casting most of the room into shadows. A lamp on the end table by the couch dimly lit the living room, displaying numerous gadgets in various states of completion scattered all over the room, on the furniture and coffee table.

"Take a chair and ask whatever you wanted to." Cale said bluntly, seating himself. We both followed suit, and I turned to face him, pulling a small hand-held tape recorder out of my pocket even as I did so. Cale raised an eyebrow at it, but didn't comment, so I flipped the on switch and settled back to begin the session.

"To begin with, we're mainly here to speak to you about a recent…uh…kidnapping." I said. "Would you happen to know anything about a tiger abduction?"

I got a strange look for that one. 

"No, that doesn't seem to ring a bell." He answered nonchalantly, leaning back in his chair and regarding us both. 

"As far as we're able to tell," Sage continued. "It has something to do with the disappearance of the Shakujo jewels a few months ago."

You'd have to be blind not to have noticed the change that came over our informant. He sat up ramrod straight, eyes going wide at the mention of the gems.

"What do you want to know about that?!" He demanded.

"I thoughtIwe/I were the one asking the questions." Sage remarked wryly. I shot him a look and turned back to Cale.

"We believe that they're connected…You see, this tiger supposedly knows the whereabouts of the jewels." I leaned forward and lowered my voice, as if the apartment was bugged. "He used to belong to Kaosu Shakujo, and is reputed to be of human intelligence."

Oh the expression on his face was priceless.

"You're kidding me right?" Cale scoffed. "It's just an animal!"

I nodded. "This is true, but somehow, the two disappearances are linked. We also have reason to believe that your former employers have abducted a veterinarian as well, which points even further towards them have taking the tiger in the first place."

Sage took over at that point. "So what do you know about these jewels?"

Cale ran a hand through his unruly hair and sighed. "It's sort of a long story…"

"We have all the time you need." I reassured him.

"Right, I figured you would have." He grinned with little humor. "Like I said, it's complicated." He paused for a deep breath. "Arago's involved in Imuch/I more than you realize."

"Oh?" Sage frowned thoughtfully. "What do you mean?"

Our informant laughed sharply, a sound that mocked the question. "I always knew he was too good at covering his tracks." He said, almost to himself. His eyes refocused on us and he proceeded with his explanation.

"Whether you know it or not, Arago has ties with nearly every major terrorist in the world. Sadam Hussein, Benladen, you name them and he's on a first name basis." Cale shook his head and made a face. "You see, he smuggles weapons and other arms out of the country and over to them, in exchange for a HUGE amount of money. The profit he's making off of this business is nearly unimaginable! He's also involved in so many drug rings I lost count inside my first month under his employment."

An uncomfortable silence fell then, broken only by the creaking of the couch as I shifted my weight.

"The jewels?" I prompted.

"Yeah, those." Cale said absently. "You see, the last I heard, Arago had fallen on rather hard times. Some cops down in Mexico busted up one of his most profitable drug rings, then a shipment of weapons got intercepted, and although the police couldn't trace it back to him, he still didn't get paid for them. That's a lot of cold, hard cash going right down the proverbial drain. He needed some kind of extra income.

"And then he heard about that crazy jeweler, Shakujo, and his collection of gems. I think he was going to pull a heist involving stealing them, but the old man passed away, and nobody knew where the jewels had vanished to."

Even though Sage and I both knew that part of the story well, we kept our mouths shut. If we interrupted him, he might forget some detail that could turn out to be very important.

"For a long time, no one had any clue that Shakujo had an heir. And I don't think they would have suspected that kid." Cale shook his head. "I'm not how exactly they found him out, but there was some talk of stealing the gems from him. This was before Arago realized that he had no clue where they were either."

"How could he possibly know that?" Sage raised an eyebrow.

"Surveillance." Came the blunt answer. "Then rumors started trickling in, about how that Itiger/I might know something."

"And no one thought that was even slightly far fetched?" I inquired.

"Well naturally!" Cale snapped. "The idea of a sentient animal is more than most people are prepared to consider. But what you may not know about Arago is that he's extremely superstitious…and cats are notoriously supernatural. So be bought that story, hook line and sinker." He paused for a moment before continuing thoughtfully. "Whether or not there's any truth to the tiger story, I'm not sure."

I exchanged a glance with Sage and we both refrained from commenting.

"Do you think you could tell us where we might…find these people?" I hazarded.

Cale shook his head. "No, it's not that simple. You have no idea how many bases of operation he has. And I'm sure that I don't know about all of them."

"Damn." Sage muttered. I could only agree. We had a lot more information to absorb, but as far as actually finding either the jewels or the tiger, we were back at square one.

"But I can tell you for a fact that there will be a rather large congregation of prominent Mob members down town this evening." The blue haired man continued, looking rather smug.

"WHAT?!" I gasped, eyes going wide. "Where would that be?"

"At a rather popular club…Anubis' or something like that."

I supressed the urge to groan. Though the possibilities to gather some information would be terrific, this meant Anubis was going to be rather….cross. After all, when I'd spoken to him the day before, he hadn't mentioned a single thing about such a get to-gether, which could only mean he didn't know it was going to happen.

"Something tells me our good friend Anubis is in for something of a shock." I heard Sage murmur under his breath.

"Something tells me you're right, and that we ought to get moving." I got to my feet and nodded at Cale. "Thank you for your help sir. It's been invaluble. If anything else comes up, would you inform us?"

An expression that could hardly be termed a 'smile' stretched across his lips. "If it helps you put that bastard away, then I'll assist you in any way I can."

"Thank you." Sage responded simply, "We'll need all the allies we can get."

Another smile, a genuine one this time, appeared. "Count me in."

I glanced at my watch and frowned. It was nearly noon, and if we were going to crash this party later on, then we had several preparations to make.

"Let's hit the road Sage, we have things to do." My partner nodded and stood as well. Without another word exchanged between the three of us, Cale opened the door and showed us out.


	4. Chapter 4!!

You know the drill…disclaimers disclaimers disclaimers…

The office was unusually quiet, absent of the tic-tic-tic sound of Kayla at the keyboard. It was odd just how loud the silence was; I'd once found that sound annoying, but now it was such a part of my everyday life that the absence was startlingly noticeable. I'd told Kayla to take the afternoon off the moment Sage and I had arrived back at the office. We wanted to discuss the news of tonight's bash without her overhearing. She'd undoubtably want to come with us, and we didn't want to chance that. Granted, I was fairly sure I'd get trouble for it later.

Now though, silence had fallen on the tiny office room. I was leaning back in my chair, heels up on my desk absently flipping pencils up to stick point-first into the ceiling. By now, there were about three and a half dozen hanging from their lead in the panel over my head. One loud noise or sharp vibration and they'd all come showering down on me.

"You sure do have a strange way of fighting boredom." Sage murmured from the chair against the wall, raising an eyebrow at the forest of pencils.

"Hey, whatever helps me work." I muttered in response, my eyes still focused on the numerous pink circles that was all I could see of my missiles. 

"And poking holes in the ceiling counts as working?"

"I don't see you helping." Needless to say, there wasn't much of an answer to that one.

Sage groaned and got to his feet, and started pacing again. "And we still don't have a plan of attack?"

I glanced at the wall clock, it was exactly 3:42. We'd been at this for nearly four hours, and we still hadn't come up with any way to surmount that one obsticle in our path.

The fact that everyone in the mob thought Sage was dead.

"We can't show up there tonight without them seeing you." I reminded him. "Which means-"

"Which means half the hit men in the city will be on my trail before sun up tomorrow."

"Exactly." I nodded, then leaned forward a little to get a better look at him. "Unless of course, we dye your hair or something."

The withering look he shot me nearly knocked me out of my chair.

"Okay, okay, so that's out." I couldn't help but smirk a little bit. "Maybe we could give you an eye-patch, or false beard!"

"Mia…stop right there. Your ideas are getting worse as you go." He begged, a pained expression on his face.

"Fine, fine." I grinned, and turned my attention back to the ceiling. "So I guess I'm going on my own then."

"No! You can't go in there by yourself." Sage turned and glared at me, crossing his arms stubbornly. "You have no idea what kind of people these are! You've never dealt with them, haven't you admitted as much yourself?"

"True, but I'm also a much better shot than you are." I replied. "And it's not like I'm going in there unarmed you know. And besides, this is at Anubis'! I'll be safe enough."

"But I don't want you going in there unescorted!" He shot back hotly. "Unless you can find somebody to take you in there, there is now way in hell you're going."

I had just opened my mouth for a sharp retort when there came a light knock at the door.

"I thought you gave Kayla the day off." Sage frowned.

"I did! And that can't be her, she wouldn't knock, she's got a key." I stood up and walked over to the door, opening it carefully to keep the many pencils in the ceiling from pouring down onto my desk.

"Hello, can I help-" I stopped when I saw who it was. "Oh! Good afternoon Ryo…come on in." I stepped away from the door and gestured to the office past me.

"Um, thank you." He was still as awkwardly polite as the day before. I closed the door behind him and turned back to face the room, and its occupants.

"Ryo, this is a friend of mine, Sage Date. Sage, Ryo Sanada."

The two men nodded at each other in acknowledgment, and I continued.

"Sage is going to be helping me with this whole case." I cracked a grin. "And don't worry, you won't be paying him, he's in this for personal reasons."

Ryo blinked in surprised before shrugging. "I wouldn't have minded even if I was. I told you before, the rates don't matter." He suddenly turned an anxious gaze on me. "Have you found anything? Anything at all?"

I pursed my lips and frowned slightly. "We do have a lead…I'm assuming Kayla's filled you in on everything we had as of yesterday evening?" Ryo nodded eagerly in response, so I explained about the gathering later on that evening.

"So you see, we may be able to find out the whereabouts of your tiger, if only SOMEBODY would let me check it out." I shot Sage a murderous glare, which was returned icily. Insults just rolled right off him.

"What do you mean?" Ryo demanded. "I thought it was your job to check this sort of thing out."

"HAH!" I shook a finger at my blonde friend. "You see?! I've been telling you, it's my job thank you! I'm getting paid to do this!"

"You're going to be walking into a lion's den!" He said with the air of one delivering an unshakable argument. "They'll recognize me, so I can't go with you. I'll say this one last time: You. Are. Not. Going. Alone." He spat out each word.

"So I'll take Ryo with me!" I grinned in triumph and grabbed the young man's wrist. 

"What?!" Sage gaped at me. 

"Actually," Ryo admitted, "I was going to ask to come along anyway."

"What makes you think they won't recognize you?" Sage raised an eyebrow at my client. "After all, you ARE the heir to the Shakujo fortune."

Ryo shot me a look. "Just how much have you told this guy?"

"Everything." I shrugged. "Leaving out details can be fatal in this business." 

"If they see you with him, that could make you a target as well!" Sage continued

Don't worry about it!" I was quickly tiring of this argument. "I don't intend to be constantly at his side, so they may or may not link us. And they wouldn't dare make a move in such a public place…there's a coffee shop down the street that always has at least one policeman in it." I'd been doing my homework. "YOU on the other hand, are a different matter. They think you're dead, and we want to make sure they go on thinking that."

"Dead!?" The black haired boy stared at Sage. "Why would they think that?!"

"Long story." I waved his question aside. "And it has little to nothing to do with you, but because of that, he can't come with me to the shindig tonight." I grinned wickedly and continued. "So would you be so kind as to be my escort this evening?"

"I'd be delighted." He responded with a grin.

"That leaves me to do what?" Sage asked, a dubious expression on his face. "Twiddle my thumbs?"

"Somebody has to keep an eye on things outside." I pointed out, "You know faces better than I do, so if someone notorious heads in, call the bar and let me know." I paused for a moment to think. "I'll let Anubis in on this, I'm sure he'll only want to help."

"You trust him that much?" Ryo frowned. 

"More." I replied. "He's helped me out before, and he knows how to keep his mouth shut. Don't worry about it." I headed back over to my desk to take my seat again. "Besides, he won't be at all happy about our friends deciding to drop by unannounced." I resumed tossing pencils up into the ceiling panel again.

"So…umm…I'll meet you here then?" Ryo inquired, casting a puzzled glance upward.

I nodded in response. "Right, sometime around 9:00." I eyed his attire and cleared my throat. "Keep in mind, this is a ritzy sort of place…we don't want to be conspicuous."

He just grinned and nodded, apparently not offended at all by my comment. A few moments later, after pounding out a few details (such as the location of the club, etc) the office was once again occupied only by myself and Sage.

"I hope this is a good idea…" I mused under my breath, suddenly concerned by the fact that I was involving a civilian in this matter.

"Trust me, I think you have yourself a bodyguard." Sage replied. "He knows his way around a fist fight, believe you me."

I raised an eyebrow in question. "What makes you say that?"

"The way he moves. Anyone who's ever had any combat training would be able to recognize it." My friend answered. "It's sort of an unconscious wariness, or grace." He turned his one-eyed gaze on me. "You have it too you know, whether or not you realize it."

"Hmmm…" I blinked in mild surprise, maybe he had a point. I'd have to work on that, I didn't want to come across as dangerous this evening. My intention was quite the opposite in fact.

"We'd better go." Sage beckoned me after him as he headed for the door. I stood up and followed, shutting the door behind me with a slam. The sound of the pencils falling from the ceiling and clattering down to my desk caused me to have a sudden coughing fit.br

~

"Well, how do I look? Impressive? Innocent? Sexy? What?!" I emerged from my room and confronted Sage. My hands were on my hips and I cocked my head to one side in question.

"Let me get a look." He stood from his position on the couch. He wasn't dressed in anything more formal than a clean pair of jeans, button down shirt and jacket. But then again, he wasn't going to be socializing either.

I spun around once for his benefit and waited for the verdict.

I didn't exactly own many dresses, and I tended to go for tasteful rather than stylish. I was clad now in a black, backless, spaghetti strap dress; the hemline of which swirled just above my knees. Black pumps and opaque hose covered my legs and feet, and a black knit cashmere shawl covered my shoulders. It was autumn after all. Part of my hair was pulled into a loose knot at the nape of my neck, and the rest poured down my back.

"Both the former and the latter." Sage decided. "Scratch the inbetween."

"Impressive and sexy, huh?" I mused, deciding I could live with that. "Okay, that'll work." I grabbed up my handbag and double checked to make sure the small handgun was still safely tucked away inside it. Sage chuckled and shook his head.

"I can't believe you're taking that in there with you." He said. "If anyone in there finds it, there could be hell to pay.

"Oh don't tell me you're not packing one!" I scoffed.

"I didn't say that!" He lifted the left side of his jacket, revealing a pistol. "But I'm not the one stupid enough to dive straight into that tiger's den….no pun intended."

"Of course not." I replied sweetly. "And you just called me stupid…do you realize that?"

"If I don't tell you, then who will?" 

Our verbal spar was abruptly interrupted as the timer on the microwave went off. I glanced at the wall clock and winced. 

"Quarter to nine, and time to get moving." I smiled nervously and crossed my fingers. "You ready?"

"Very ready." Sage nodded. "I'll meet you there."

"Right, but for chrissake, don't let yourself be noticed!" I reached over and squeezed his shoulder briefly before turning to head out the door. "And don't be late either!"

The second part of our plan went off without a glitch. Ryo and I met up at the office, exactly as scheduled. My escort for the evening had either rented a tux or actually owned one; which, I had no way of knowing.

"Should we walk?" He asked, obviously just as nervous as I was. "It's not too far."

"Ah, but we don't want to be conspicuous!" I grinned, hoping to put him at ease. "Most people will be arriving by limo I suspect, so even a taxi cab is going to look a little out of place, but we don't have a choice." 

"I see." Ryo mused that over for a moment before noticing the time. It's all very well and good to be fashionably late, but we didn't want to miss anything important. With an ironic little bow, he offered me his arm. "My Lady?"

"Hardly." I snorted wryly, but accepted. We'd called the cab company ahead of time and scheduled two, one for Ryo and myself, and one for Sage. The cabbie was waiting impatiently at the curb, and took off for Anubis' the second we had stepped into the car and given him our destination.

"Cross your fingers and pray they don't recognize you." I murmured under my breath to Ryo. "And unless something big comes up, do not talk to me that often. The longer I stay unknown to them, the better it will be for all of us." My client nodded his understanding and we both stepped out of the cab. It was, after all, a very short drive.

The inside of the club was even more packed than usual, except this time, at least ninety percent of the patronage were people of dubious backgrounds. The air was choked with the scents of cigarette and cigar smoke, perfume (both cheap and expensive) and food. Strains of music from the small stage barely reached my ears, and I noted absently that Kayura was not performing tonight. That was probably a very wise decision on her part. I readjusted my shawl and peered around for any familiar (or infamous) faces.

"Here's where we go our separate ways." I said in a normal tone, not too worried about being overheard in the cacophony. 

"Good Luck." Ryo grinned and disappeared into the crowd.

"Yeah, you too." I whispered, knowing he couldn't hear me. "We're going to need it."

"Right Mia!" I told myself. "It's time to go to work and earn the rent." The first order of business was to speak with Anubis.

Fighting my way through the crowd was no mean feat. It reminded me forcibly of attempting to walk down the halls in high school after the dismissal bell. People were talking all around me, shouting to be heard over the conversations of others. I pressed my hands to my ears and tried to ignore it.

The bar had seemed such a distant goal, but eventually I made it. To my immense relief I discovered that there were less people here, the main contingent seemed to be concentrated on the dance floor and around the tables. Anubis was down at the far end of the mahogany bar, and I mentally cursed him for that. Why was he being so difficult to get a hold of?!

I don't know if I made a movement that caught his attention, or if it was just a coincidence, but my quarry turned at that exact moment and noticed me. His eyebrows shot towards his hairline in surprise, and he made a small beckoning motion with his hand. I sighed inwardly; he didn't need to tell me twice.

"I can't believe you're going through with this." He muttered. I'd called him earlier that day and explained that we'd be dropping by that evening. "This is without a doubt one of your stupider escapades." 

"That's the second time tonight I've been called stupid." I chuckled. "I take it you're not too pleased about all this."

Anubis glared out at the gathering, cold rage in his eyes. "It's good for business, I suppose, but I half expect one of these scum to draw a gun at any second."

"Which would be bad for business." I said blandly. The entire conversation had gone on most innocuously. Any observer would have assumed I was ordering a drink. Anubis slid a Shirly Temple towards me, which I sipped at between questions. We'd decided earlier that it was better for all involved if we kept up that pretense.

"That's putting it quite mildly." He murmured, spritzing some beverage or other out of one of those soda guns.

"See any faces you think I should know about?" I inquired, covering the question by sipping at my drink.

"There are a few I've never seen before…" Anubis frowned, carefully facing away from me. "And quite a lot of wanted men as well. Of course, I'm not going to be doing anything about it."

"Of course not…" I sighed sympathetically. "If any police made a raid here, your place would be either shut down by them, or put out by them." I flicked a finger towards the crowd.

"Exactly." He barely nodded. "Now if you'll ever-so-casually look off to your right, you'll see one of those new faces I mentioned."

Keeping my drink in my left hand, I crossed my legs at the knee and spun the bar stool around slowly so I was facing the direction he'd indicated. Almost immediately, I picked out the man he meant from those I'd seen before on 'wanted' posters. He kind of stood out in the crowd, with that shock of wild azure hair. The young man in question couldn't have been much older than Ryo, and he seemed ill at ease amongst the throng of criminals. Something in his eyes sent a shiver up my spine. They say that the eyes are the window to the soul; if this is true, then this man had a very troubled soul.

"Who is he?" I asked, once against disguising the movement of my lips with the rim of the glass.

"Would you believe that's Mr. Rowen Hashiba?" Anubis' voice was just at my elbow.

I had to fight very hard not to go into a coughing fit. I nearly inhaled some of the carbonation from my drink.

"Y…you're kidding me!" I strangled out.

"Actually, I'm not." I could tell from his tone that my friend was fighting back a smirk. And no wonder! Rowen Hashiba was one of New York's most wealthy tycoons. He'd made a fortune on computer software and engineering, and was the co-chairman of his own company. And he was younger than I was!

"Ooookaaaay…" I nibbled at the inside of my lower lip for a moment. "Now what would a multi-millionaire be doing in your nightclub on an evening when half the God-forsaken Mob chooses to frequent the place? Especially when he undoubtedly knows who most of these men are and wouldn't want to be seen dead with them? This is a little too coincidental."

"Don't I know it." Anubis muttered. "And if you will kindly look to your left please miss?" He put on his best tour guide voice. "You'll see face number two. This time though, we're not talking about one of the good guys."

Again, just as casually as before, I slowly turned the chair and nearly fell off it.

"What do you mean not one of the good guys? Am I looking at the right person?!"

"If you mean that kid who looks fresh out of college, then yeah, I believe you are."

It didn't seem to me that Anubis was exaggerating at all. The young man I scrutinized now didn't look as though he'd been out of school for very many years. Longish auburn hair framed an innocent face, the type that most people would trust instinctively. But there was something shadowy in those sea green eyes…I had no trouble reading the fact that he had secrets.

I probably would never have picked this guy as a possible foe, if not for the fact that he was currently caught up in a conversation with a fairly prominent Mob member by the name of Daala; whose nasal voice I could hear loud and clear over the crowd. 

Anubis had moved down the bar to serve another patron, so I waited for him to return before broaching my next question.

"So, do you have a name to put with this face?" I nonchalantly swirled the ice around in my glass, even as my mind raced for some kind of common link to all this.

"Just a last name." He replied, shrugging. "Mouri. They're calling him 'The Shark'. From what I've been able to gather, this kid survived the cement shoe treatment."

I let out a long, low whistle of incredulity, and quirked an eyebrow upwards. "That's certainly saying something. How long was he under?"

"About seven minutes, to hear the rumors."

So. Seven minutes with one's feet strapped to two heavy cement blocks, at the bottom of the river had taken care of plenty unwanted members. So how had this kid managed to live through it?

"Well that's certainly something to chew on." I placed my glass back down on the bar with a soft 'clink', and flashed Anubis a smile before continuing. "I think I'll go circulate a bit. I want to have a few words with Mr. Hashiba over there. Give Kayura my thanks, will you?"

"I will." He nodded. "If you found out about this whole bash through her contacts, I wish you give me their numbers. I hate unexpected guests."

"You'll have to talk to her about that." I don't know if he heard my answer, swallowed up as it was by the crowd.

I had to elbow my way through the mass of people, but you don't live in New York for as long as me and NOT learn how to deal with crowds. I slipped through it like a fish fighting its way upstream; it was difficult, but by no means impossible.

By the time I reached my 'quarry' I had come up with a few questions I wanted to ask him, but I wouldn't be able to if I scared him away. I was going to have to be careful not to alarm him. Then again, alarm could be a good thing if used sparingly…"Mr. Rowen Hashiba, I presume?" I asked quietly. The blue haired young man jumped in surprise at the sound of my voice, whipping his head around to regard me. He frowned thoughtfully, and I got the feeling he was appraising me much the way I had him earlier.

"Yeeees….." He drawled warily, clearly unsure of who I was. His accent marked him clearly as a NY native. "Can Ah help ya Ms.-" He left the end of the sentence dangling, an invitation for me to fill in the blank.

I ignored the opening, and continued on blithely. "So, what brings you here? I would never have connected a business man like yourself to the Mob."

The young man's eyes narrowed, and he regarded me sharply, obviously I wasn't what he had expected.

"Who ah you?" He asked, overtones of suspicion and caution in his voice. His face a mask of quiet rage. "Haven't Ah already given you guys enough?"

Hmmm, this was an interesting turn of the conversation. It almost sounded as if he definitely wasn't here of his own free will. I decided on a leap of faith, trusting my instincts and praying that this guy wasn't really linked to the Mob…if he was, and I went and dropped my name, we would all be in deep kimchee.

"I'm not sure who you think I am," I said with a small smile. "But I'm sure that you have it all wrong."

"If yah're gonna be all cryptic, then ya can jest leave naow." Mr. Hashiba said shortly, appearing to be very angry.

"Very well." I allowed my features to take on a neutral expression. "My name's Mia Koji. I'm a private investigator."

"Working fah who?" If anything, the suspicious look oh his face became even sharper.

"I'm afraid my…client, is better left nameless." I said regretfully. "It's in his interests that I came here this evening, just to get a look at things." I gestured around me at the gathering. "As you can see, there seems to be plenty of opportunities to gather information." I shot him a pointed glance. "I recognized you from several news broadcasts, and thought it rather odd to find you in a place full of so many distasteful characters."

"So yah're not working fah them?" Rowen jerked his head out at a table crowded with many infamous people. Coincidentally, it happened to be the one that 'Shark' person was at.

"Hell no!" I snorted. "My client is anything but linked with them. They caused him a personal loss, and I'm under contract to help him." I was walking a thin line here, unsure just what to tell him. "I don't suppose I could ask you a few things?"

"Ya cahn, but that doesn't mean Ah'll answer ya." The expression on his face was almost smug.

"And why not?"

"Ah'm not too sure Ah believe ya." He admitted, still giving me a wary look. "Around hea, it's not too smaht ta trust anybody."

"I'm beginning to discover that." I replied. This kid was very good at the game of twenty questions. "But if I may ask…why are you here if you aren't connected with our friends out there?"

"As ya said earliah Ms. Koji, personal reahsons." Came the bland reply.

"Hmmmm…" I watched the crowd spin for a moment, quietly mulling this over. I could tell he knew something, and I was dying to figure out what it was. Ah well, time to drop the bomb and really pray my woman's intuition wasn't on the fritz.

"Look Mr. Hashiba." I turned fully to him, letting my emotions show. "I'll let you know right now that I can tell you're somehow linked with these guys." I jerked my head at the table and saw him wince. "Maybe I can help you somehow, but I'd appreciate it if you'd answer a few things for me."

The mask on his face slipped for a brief moment, and I saw a horrible raw pain there. "Ah don't think ya could help me Miss." Hashiba said in a voice barely above a whisper.

"And why's that?" I crossed my arms, aware that I was about to do something very stupid. "I'll be perfectly honest with you. What I want to know is going to sound nuts. I'm looking for a large White Tiger that was abducted by the mob. Supposedly, Arago's behind the entire caper, for reasons I don't think I should disclose."

At the mention of Arago's name, the expression on the younger man's face switched from anguish to a burning hatred. I raised an internal eyebrow, surprised by the reaction.

"Have I touched a nerve?" I asked quietly.

"That and more." I could tell he was clenching his teeth. "Ah don't know anything 'bout a tiger abduction m'am." He shook his head. "And what Ah do know 'bout Arago isn't fit fah polite convahsahtion."

"This is hardly polite." I replied dryly. "Anything you can tell me would be appreciated." My voice dropped to a hushed thread of sound. "If I can get to the bottom of this case, the cops can put that bastard away for good."

Rowen stared at me in shock for a moment, eyes searching mine to see if I was lying to him in any way. Whatever he found there satisfied him.

"Ah'll answer whateva Ah can." His voice was just as quiet as mine.

I studied his face for a moment, but I found nothing to lead me to believe he was being anything other than honest. "Hmmm, first off, what the hell are you doing here with these cretins?"

"That's a long story." He pushed cerulean bangs from his eyes, staring at some point on the floor. "In short, the bastahds are blackmailin' me."

"WHAT?!" I gasped. "But…what do they have on you? Some kind of shadowy business deal?"

"Hahdly." He replied wryly. "Ya see-"

Whatever he was going to say was cut short as someone tapped on my shoulder. I turned around, horribly certain that we'd been overheard and some thug was about to fill us both full of several rounds of lead.

Instead, my eyes met a very familiar, and welcome, pair of tiger blue ones.

"Ryo!" I placed a hand over my heart and sighed in relief. "Don't DO that to me!"

"Sorry Mia." He looked very sheepish for a moment before sobering up. "There's a call at the bar for you from you-know-who."

I cursed under my breath. Sage's timing couldn't have been worse! I was about to uncover something, I felt it!

"Alright, I'm going." I turned back to Rowen. "Mr. Hashiba, would you wait here for me for a moment?"

He nodded once, and I took off for the bar, where I could see Anubis waiting impatiently. When I was within arm's reach, he handed me the phone, which I placed against my ear.

"Dammit Sage! What's so important? I'm on to something here!" I hissed.

"Mia, you have got to get out of there! And I mean now!" My friend's voice was very urgent.

"Why? What's going on?"

"First of all, you've got incoming!" Sage warned me.

"Incoming? Who?!" I gripped the receiver tighter in anxiety.

"Go figure. Arago's second in command. Badamon."

My stomach dropped to somewhere around my ankles, as it seemed to be doing often enough lately. A chorus of 'why me?' rang in my head for a brief moment before I got control of myself again.

"You mean that creepy, sickly little---"

"Yeah, one and the same." Sage sounded very grim. "There's something else too. I overheard him talking with someone else about a 'shipment' down at the docks tonight."

I gulped. "…Drugs…."

"That's what I'm going to assume."

"Call the cops and wait for me at the bus-stop around the corner. I'll be right there." I hung up then and turned around. I had to find Ryo and get the hell outta Anubis'. This could be big. If we could manage to foil this 'shipment', then that would mean more money lost for Arago. And I wanted to make things as uncomfortable as possible for that piece of slime.

Once again, I nearly walked right into Ryo, he had been behind me the whole time.

"Didn't I just tell you not to do that!?" I snapped, unusually irritable with nerves.

"Mia? What's wrong?" He asked me, a worried expression on his face.

"Something big's going down at the docks soon." I replied tightly. "We have to move and get down there…and by 'we' I mean me and Sage. You are going home right now."

"I'm not a kid!" He argued indignantly. "I'm coming along. If this is as urgent as you say, you're probably going to need my help."

"And Ah'm coming along as well." Rowen spoke up from just behind him. I cast a despairing look at the business man, wondering why I kept getting stuck with these wet-behind-the-ears little….

The thought trailed off as I noticed something. When Sage had mentioned looking dangerous, I hadn't quite understood. But looking at these two young men, I realized that they both had that determined, and confident look on their faces.

"All right, I won't try and stop you, just don't do anything stupid!" I shook a finger in Rowen's face. "Besides, you and I have a conversation to finish."

He grinned, losing some of the haunted look in his eyes. "Right."

With a tremendous sigh, I waved thanks and goodbye to Anubis, silently wishing him luck with this crowd, and then left the club with my two companions in tow.

Have any of you ever tried to type Rowen's voice in a New York accent?! It's BLOODY HARD!!!! Anywho, I finally finished chapter four. And now things get interesting! What's going on at the docks? What's Rowen's secret? Is Cye a bad guy or what? What role will Kento be taking when he enters the scene? And will I ever get the hang of this accent?!!!


	5. Chapter 5

The lonely sound of a fog horn and the echoing clang of some bell were the only noises out on the docks this late at night. Thick fog hovered just over the surface of the obsidian black water. Wavelets lapped at the concrete walls of the wharf, making slapping and rushing noises. Streetlights were placed at long intervals, their golden glow muted by the mist that curled up and around the posts. City lights from across the bay testified to the busy nightlife of New York. In the distance I could see the Statue of Liberty, her torch a beacon against the starless night. The taxi driver had sped away as quickly as possible, obviously just as unnerved by the deserted waterfront as I was.

I shivered and pulled my shawl closer around my shoulders. An errant night breeze toyed with the hem of my skirt, whipping long locks of my hair to tease my face. For a moment, I closed my eyes and inhaled the salty sea scent, trying to ignore the goosebumps rising on my skin and the tingling feeling along my spine.

"This place still creeps me out." Ryo breathed, his voice sounding oddly loud in the deep silence.

"Still?" Sage inquired in a whisper. What was it about these surrounding that made us keep our voices down?

"Yeah, I used to hang out around here a lot during late nights." He admitted.

Rowen shuddered, eyes darting wildly around. He plainly was not used to such surroundings.

"Sage?" I asked, turning to face him. "Did you hear what dock we should be at?"

He grimaced as he realized that we could have just asked the driver to take us there instead of walking it. "Dock 18A." He replied, totally chagrined. "Sorry, it just slipped my mind."

"No big deal." I looked around, spotting the wharf designation. "We're at 14C right now, so it's not too long a walk." 

A few moments later I was ready to eat those words. I'd dressed this evening for a social gathering, not a hike. Women's shoes may look attractive, but they pinch like nobody's business. I found myself wincing with every step, wishing I could just stop, strip off the shoes and take care of the cramps.

The thud thud of our footsteps echoed eerily off the walls of warehouses. I frowned internally, not liking the amount of noise the four of us made. If anyone heard us coming….

From somewhere up ahead there came a thud followed by a sharp sounding crack and a string of muffled curses. I shot a glance at Sage, who nodded curtly. I understood perfectly.

"Come on." I hissed to Rowen and Ryo, pulling them both into the shadows of a warehouse doorway. Sage went on ahead, making absolutely no sound in the shadows. For a moment, I felt a pang of jealousy. Why couldn't I ever move that silently?

It took me about two minutes to realize that I certainly wasn't going to just sit there! I sighed and wished once more for a pair of sneakers, high heels just made too much of a clicking noise when moving.

As quietly as possible, I crept forward, right hand searching blindly through my handbag for my gun. I didn't want to have to use it, but not having it out to use if need be would have been infinitely worse. Behind me, I could hear Ryo and Rowen. The odd thing was they weren't making much noise. It almost made me wonder what kind of past experiences either of them had had.

We drew up behind Sage, behind a piled up heap of crates, some empty, some full or partially so. He moved to the side a little and let me take a look.

What the…? I blinked in surprise and watched the scene before me with a certain degree of disbelief.

Just ahead of us, perhaps fifty feet away, two men were unloading a truckload of boxes, and it seemed to me they were taking extra care with the cargo. Both of them were dressed nondescriptly. One was tall and brown haired, and the other short and sandy blonde. My curiosity swallowed me whole; I was just dying to know what the crates contained.

"What do you think they're up to?" Ryo's voice tickled my ear. I shrugged without turning around, frowning openly.

Just then, the taller man cursed loudly as his grip on the edge of the crate slipped; the late night mist had condensed on the surface, making it slippery. His half of the box hit the pavement, cracking audibly. Sealed packets of a powdery white substance spilt from the fissure. The man scrambled wildly to scoop them up before the damp stone could affect the cargo.

"You bloody idiot!" The second man swore, setting his edge carton down gingerly. He crossed over to the first man and cuffed him upside the head. "Do you realize how much money you could have just lost us?! You are one lucky bastard; the goods weren't damaged."

The other guy just cringed and hastily crammed the packets back into the box. "It was an accident!"

"And it may yet cost you your head if the boss sees!" The blonde man snorted in disgust and shook his head. "C'mon, we're already running behind, we'd better get moving.

I heard the soft whisper of a muffled curse from behind me, and turned my head to see expressions of rage on both Rowen and Ryo's faces. Rowen's hands were shaking and that slightly near the edge look was back in his eyes.

I guess my puzzlement must have shown, for Ryo shook his head and leaned forward.

"Cocaine." He hissed. I felt my insides turn to a lump of ice. It looked like Sage's hunch earlier had turned out to be true; they were receiving a drug shipment tonight. I shot a look at my blonde partner, who's face was utterly expressionless as he watched the scene before us.

"Got an idea?" I asked as quietly as I could. "We can't just sit here and let them get away with this stuff."

"Remember you told me to call for police backup." He replied, though I had to strain to hear. "I did. We just have to make sure they don't escape before the cops arrive." For some reason I didn't much like the tone of his voice when he said that.

Silence fell again, a quiet so deep that the ominous creaking noise from over our heads was horribly loud. All four of us craned our necks back and stared aghast as the top of the pile of crates we were hiding behind began to sway. The strain of four people leaning against it was throwing off the balance up top.

I gasped aloud as the topmost crate toppled off of the stack, catching more boxes as it went and bringing down most of the precariously stacked containers with it.

"What the hell?!" The man who'd been berating his partner turned and narrowed his eyes as the tower crumbled.

"There's somebody back there!" The other exclaimed. He reached back behind him into the truck he and his cohort were loading the drugs into, and withdrew a long, dark, shape. My eyes went wide as the barrel of the gun swerved to aim directly at our hiding place. My ears just barely registered the 'click' of the safety being disengaged…but by the time he opened fire I was halfway to the pavement, yanking both Sage and Ryo along with me, praying that Rowen had the sense to drop.

Hollywood gunfire and Real Life gunfire are two entirely different things. In the movies, all you hear is this cute little snapping noise, like a firecracker. But listening to it on a DVD and being barely thirty feet away from a maniac opening fire with what had to be an automatic rifle of some sort are two totally different things. The roar of a spray of bullets shredding the wooden crates to pulp tore viciously at my eardrums. I covered my head with my hands and pressed my face into the concrete, praying that the gun-toting man would be aiming for abdomen height, and not a foot off the ground. Chips of wood rained down on us. I heard the distinctive ping of ricocheting bullets and shards of debris as they whizzed just barely overhead.

After an eternity, there was a clicking sound as the clip ran out and the man ejected it and slapped in another. I took that time to look around at my companions, all of whom had taken the 'heads down' position as well. I breathed a quick prayer as I noticed that no one was hurt any worse than a scratch or graze. Rowen seemed to have seen the shots coming before the rest of us; not only had he hit the dirt, but was also partially sheltered by the corner of the building we were up against.

"Hey whoa!" The short man cried. "Talk about overkill! What the hell do you think you're doing?! The cops'll be here in a second!"

"If they weren't already!" Came the angry retort. "What do you think made those boxes fall?!"

"We'll argue later. Right now we have to get out of here before we're caught."

"Mia we have to stop them!" I heard Ryo rasp out. His voice was slightly strangled considering that he was tilting his head back from his position on the ground. None of us had gotten back to our feet yet.

I looked around wildly, noticing my handbag lying near Rowen. I met his eyes and nodded, and he kicked out, sending it skidding my way. I grabbed it up and hastily withdrew my little 9mm Kurz. It sure wasn't going to do much damage, unless I managed to hit somewhere vital. But I didn't want to kill those men, I just didn't want them to escape before the police arrived. Already I could hear the sounds of the truck engine firing up.

"The'a gonna get away!" Rowen hissed. And then the engine sputtered, and coughed. I felt a relieved grin pull at my lips. Our luck was holding.

"Sage what've you got?" I asked, not bothering to keep my voice down much as there was little chance our quarry could hear us over the noise of the engine.

"22cal." He answered back, drawing the gun from his jacket.

"Spray or Slug?" I inspected my little pistol, relieved to find a full clip.

"Slug, I don't want to take out the entire area. They've done enough damage."

There was another clinching sound, and I turned to see Rowen with something in his hand. My estimation of the businessman rose a few notches; he had the good sense not to attend Mob gatherings without some kind of protection.

"Am I the only one here without a gun?!" Ryo muttered, but not resentfully. I got the feeling he didn't believe in shooting someone from a distance, but preferred hand-to-hand.

"Looks like it." My reply was slightly absent. "Sage take out the wheel okay? They'll have to get out to look, and we need all the time we can buy."

Ryo and Rowen both plugged their ears, which were probably still ringing from the earlier firing. I had my attention on the truck, so I didn't see Sage shoot, but I watched as the back left tire went out with an angry hissing noise. A stream of loud cursing issued from somewhere in the cab. They had to have heard the shot, and knew that the adversary they'd thought to be gone was still out there.

"Nice shot." Rowen murmured appreciatively as both men scrambled from the truck cab and dug their weapons from the back.

I sucked in a gasp from between my teeth when I recognized the guns. I hadn't realized Arago could afford to outfit his lackeys with AK-47s…

I decided about then that I was in over my head.

From somewhere in the distance, there came the faint wailing of police sirens. The scream grew steadily louder, keening a warning to the two armed men who stood before us. Though they couldn't see the four people hiding behind the remains of the crate pile, we could see them quite clearly. They exchanged a look and came to the obvious decision: Run like the proverbial bat outta hell.

"Let's get outta here!" One shouted, turning tail to flee. I narrowed my eyes and clicked off the safety. The cops wouldn't be here in time, and unless we did something, we'd lose them.

My eyes narrowed and I found myself taking measurement instinctively. My index finger squeezed the trigger lightly, and my arms tensed to take the inevitable backlash.

The taller, brown haired man screamed and lurched forward as the bullet connected with the back of his left knee. He hit the ground hard, his rifle flew from his hands and skittered away, spinning towards the edge of the docks and splashing into the bay. His companion didn't even look back, he just kept on running like there was a demon hot on his heels.

"Damn." I muttered, disgusted at the shorter man's cowardice. I just hoped we could afford to lose him, and that he hadn't gotten a good look at me or my companions. I was almost sure that he worked for Arago or one of the lesser Mob bosses, but we didn't need anyone connecting my small PI agency to this bust.

With a squeal of tires and a burst of flashing lights, three cop cars wheeled into the dock-space next to the getaway truck and the loading van. Uniformed police officers spilt from the cars, the majority of them going over to inspect the cargo of drugs. I heard a lot of startled exclamation as the LEOs* realized what a huge load they were dealing with.

"Looks like the cavalry's finally here." Rowen remarked, his firearm vanishing to wherever he'd drawn it from.

"Late as usual." Sage said dryly, watching as two cops knelt by the man I'd felled and turned him carefully over onto his back.

Another policeman noticed the group of four people standing by the wreckage of the crates and approached us. I tensed up, really not wanting an interrogation just now.

"Oh no…" I heard Rowen sigh. A quick glance back his way showed me he was unusually tense and pale. The answer clicked together in my mind. He'd told me himself that he had some ties to the Mob, and if news of this leaked out to them…he'd be in deep. Real deep.

I was trying to put together some kind of feasible cover story, but then I recognized the cop heading our way, and grinned in relief. There could be no mistaking the stocky frame, ash black hair, and cobalt eyes.

"Kento!" I waved, a wide smile on my face. My old friend did a comic double take, then stared openly at me.

"Mia?!" He demanded incredulously, eyes wide. "What are you doing here?!" Then his gaze locked on Sage, and an expression of utter disbelief appeared on his face. His mouth moved, but he couldn't seem to find any words.

"First Kayla, now Kento." I sighed, giving Sage a rueful look. "You just seem to have that effect on people."

"The look on your face was priceless too." He chuckled.

"What…how…what the hell is going on here?!" Kento demanded, thoroughly puzzled by this point. His eyes flickered from myself and my blonde partner, to the two young men who stood behind us like shadows. Ryo seemed to shrink back against the darkness beyond the pool of gold from the streetlight. I wondered again about his past; why would he feel he had to avoid all police officers? Sometime in the near future we were going to have to have a talk about that.

Rowen also seemed to try to hide, but there wasn't much he could do to conceal that shock of azure hair. Kento's eyes narrowed in recognition.

"Suppose you explain to me why you're out on the docks at midnight, with a dead man, a rich guy, and some street punk…and you might want to tell me why there's a truckload of crack right over there as well." He said mildly, fixing me with a deceptively calm gaze. I sighed inwardly, knowing that the man was as stubborn and patient as stone, and wouldn't let up until he got a satisfactory answer out of me.

I groaned aloud and palmed at my face. A long moment passed before I decided the best thing to do would be to tell Kento the truth. Whether or not he chose to believe it was entirely up to him. However, I had to consider a few other things before letting the cat out of the proverbial bag.

"Fine fine." I caved, but held up a cautionary finger as an expression of triumph crossed Kento's face. "I'll spill, but not here. And I have to get a promise out of you first."

"What would that be?"

"As you can probably tell," I began. "My blue-haired friend over here doesn't really need this kind of publicity. All I want from you is your word that he won't be involved in your report on this bust. The press hasn't gotten here yet, but I don't want any of our names appearing in tomorrow's papers, check? It'd be really bad for everyone concerned if that happened."

Kento have me a searching look, as if trying to figure why I would request such a thing. The silence stretched on for a minute or so, the sounds of the police not thirty feet away seeming oddly distant. Finally he spoke.

"Whatever's going on, you're in pretty deep, aren'tcha Mia?" He inquired, a sudden insight that didn't surprise me much. Most people mistook my friend for a stereotypical jock; all muscle and no brains. But there was a shrewd mind behind the calm demeanor. If there hadn't been, he wouldn't be as high up in the force as he was.

"Pretty much." I admitted, fidgeting with the hem of my shawl for a moment. "Do you know the Subway™ on the corner of 3rd and Broadway?" I waited for the nod of assent before continuing. "Meet us there when you get off shift. When is that?"

"Give me about half an hour." Kento promised. He indicated the scene behind us with a grimace of distaste. "I'll take any excuse to ditch the paperwork that's gonna come with this little bust." He smiled warmly at me, chuckling under his breath. "We could use the catchin' up anyway." Kento turned to leave, but stopped and faced Sage for a moment before speaking. "I knew you weren't dead…you're just too damn smart to get yourself killed like that."

"I'm going to take that as a compliment." Sage grinned, ignoring the mystified expression on Rowen's face. I had to try not to laugh; I'd forgotten that the young man knew practically nothing about any of us.

"The Subway™ it is then." I said decisively. "I think maybe we ought to change first." I eyed my three companions meaningfully, simultaneously brushing self consciously at the front of my dress. The fabric was damp from the ground and ripped slightly around the hem. The guys' tuxes weren't in much better shape.

"That can wait." Ryo shook his head. "We didn't get out of that skirmish totally unharmed."

I took a closer look at him, noticing for the first time the trickle of blood dripping from a shallow graze wound on his temple. Rowen's left pant leg was slashed just below the knee, and I caught sight of a stain on the dark cloth.

"Right." I nodded in agreement. "First aid first…and by then we should just head for the Subway™ and worry about changing later."

As we quickly left the scene before anyone else noticed us, Rowen fell into stride beside me.

"Ya sure lead an…intahresting life Ms. Koji." There was a ghost of a smile in his voice.

"Believe me, I'm beginning to prefer boring."


	6. Chapter 6!

The hands on the clock behind the counter read a quarter to midnight, though it felt much later than that to me. The amount of traffic outside the large plate glass windows of the little Subway™ was unusually light for late-night New York. Even on the weeknights the entire city seemed to hum with a vitality and life that nothing else could compare to. Sometimes I used to think that if I listened hard enough, I'd be able to hear the sound of hundreds of thousands of hearts beating in time, giving the cold cement, plexi-glass and metal of the metropolis a pulse.

I leant my forehead against the cool glass of the window, and sighed to myself. The one thought that seemed to occupy my entire brain was '_why me_'. Of course, I knew the answer to that. I'd taken the job on willingly, and I couldn't just leave all these people in the lurch when they needed me most…no matter how tempting that thought could appear to be in moments like these.

__

Focus Mia. I berated myself. _Okay, what do I know so far? Point one: Arago has the tiger, and he wants the jewels…why? To make up for losses in a drug smuggling ring. Point two: He took Sage's wife, supposedly to keep the cat in good health. Point three: He's blackmailing Hashiba for some odd reason, but with what? What could this guy have done that the press wouldn't have found out about? Point four:…_ I scowled softly to myself. There WAS no point four dammit! And therein lay the problem. Until I could find another good lead, this case was on standstill. My only hope for the moment was that Rowen may just know something from his interaction with the Mob. Or possibly Kento would have heard some information around HQ. I worried at a thumb nail and ignored the steaming cup of coffee before me. We'd all ordered some, if only to keep ourselves going after such a long night. Now that the adrenaline had worn off, I found myself feeling more and more fatigued.

I was jolted from my thoughts as the bell over the door jingled. Automatically, all four of us turned to see who was coming. We'd been doing that for the past twenty minutes, since we'd arrived. I think we'd scared some of the other late-night patrons...

This time, at least, it was the long awaited person. It didn't really matter much that Kento wasn't in uniform, he still seemed to have an air of authority, or someone used to having to use force to make a point. He was dressed casually in worn jeans and a gray T-shirt, with a windbreaker over all to ward off some of the autumn chill. He approached our booth, then paused and snagged a chair from a nearby table. Which was just as well, really, things were a little cramped as they were. He set it so the back was facing us, and plopped down, crossing his arms over the back of the chair and regarding us all intently.

"I'd like some answers, if you don't mind." He said calmly. "Starting with you." Sage shrugged as Kento's gaze fell quite pointedly upon him. "You're not dead. Why?"

It took a great deal of willpower to keep me from slapping my forehead. Kento had always been more blunt and direct than anyone else I'd ever known. Even back when I'd first met him in the Police Academy, what seemed like a lifetime ago. We'd been partnered together on a training exercise, and his easygoing nature and open sense of humor had had me in stitches within minutes. We'd gone our separate ways after the graduation. He'd decided he was going to dedicate his life to the force, and I wanted to go free-lance. Since a lot of my cases drew in police officers, we had frequent run ins over the years. Why did I get the sinking feeling that this time it wouldn't be just a simple run in? 

I only half listened as Sage explained, once more, why he wasn't six feet under. Both Rowen and Ryo were listening incredulously, while Kento merely nodded his understanding and asked much the same questions I had...only a few octaves lower and with much less anger behind them. Sage wound down to the end of his narrative, and for a moment, nobody spoke.

"Ahhh, I never really did believe it when they wheeled you into the morgue." Kento sighed, resting his chin on his crossed arms and frowning at the table-top. "I don't think you realize just how much you hurt the rest of us though."

"Believe me, Mia made things quite clear." Sage responded, wincing. I grinned smugly, crossing my arms over my chest. In my mind, he'd gotten exactly what he deserved.

"Alright, I'll buy that." Kento nodded. "But what the hell do they want with your wife? That's the part I don't get."

"This would be where I pick up the story." I jumped in.

"I see…one of those jigsaw cases?" He asked. "Where each little incident is related to another one?"

"Exactly." I nodded. "Only this one has more lives than I care to think about hanging on it." The expression on Kento's face went from listening, to plain old disbelief as I recounted all that had occurred to us thus far. I explained how Ryo had come to me, how I'd accepted the (admittably odd) case, and how Sage had show up out of the blue. From there, I told him what I could of our meeting with Sasaki without breaking my promise to Kayura. I noticed something flicker behind Kento's eyes…maybe recognition? It wouldn't have surprised me to find out that he'd read up on Kujuurou's file, and knew the man's history. I went on ahead to tell him of this night's past events, from my encounter with Hashiba at the club, to the shoot out on the docks.

"And that's pretty much it." I concluded, sipping at the now lukewarm mug of coffee before me. "There are so many holes in this case you could probably drain pasta…but that's all we know."

"That's pretty damn unbelievable, you do realize that don't you?" He asked me flatly.

"Trust me officer, I get that response a lot." Ryo spoke up for the first time, a somewhat sheepish expression on his face. But there was a hint of steel in his voice, as if he was bound and determined to make the policeman take his story for the truth. "But it's all for real, every word of it."

"Aww hell, I believe ya kid." Kento sighed, reaching up with an almost unconscious gesture to push back a uniform hat that wasn't there. "I'm dead on for spotting a lie."

I relaxed almost unconsciously. I knew for a fact how farfetched this whole thing was, but backed by the kind of evidence we'd accumulated, one would almost _have_ to believe it.

"That leaves just one loose end to tie up." Kento said, his gaze swinging to lock onto Hashiba. Sage, Ryo and I both followed suit, and the young businessman flushed under the combined intensity of our stares.

"I'd say you _do_ owe us an explanation." Sage prompted him.

"Ah know Ah do…" He fidgeted in his seat. "But…it's kindah a long stahry." 

"In case you hadn't noticed, it's already late." Ryo pointed out, obvious eaten alive with curiosity. "I doubt a little less sleep is going to hurt us any."

Rowen sighed resignedly. I could tell he was at something of a loss to say.

"You told me back at Anubis' that you were being blackmailed by them." I reminded him. "But you never did say what with."

Again, I saw a flicker of fear, anger and hatred in his eyes. He stared at me from across the stained formica of the booth's table-top, and a shiver clawed its way up my spine. Nobody so young should have such haunted eyes. I was only 27, at least three years his senior.

"Ah sahpose, in this regahd, Sage and Ah have sumthang in common." Rowen sighed, blowing irritably at the lock of azure hair ticking the tip of his nose. "Only they _intended_ ta steahl mah loved ones."

"Loved ones?" Kento leaned forward a little.

Hashiba gritted his teeth, clearly forcing each word out past his rage. "Mah wahf and dahter."

It took me a moment to puzzle through his thick accent, but once I did, my mind still refused to grasp what he had just told me, told us.

They had his wife and daughter.

Ryo slammed a fist down on the table and swore harshly. Kento took a few deep breaths, and clenched and unclenched his hands into fists. If I hadn't known Sage as well as I did, I would have assumed he was taking it with his usual calm, but beneath the composed mask I could see a killing rage; this latest development hit just a little too close to the bone for him. I, on the other hand, was stunned into silence. Childnapping was the one crime I despised above all else. In my line of work, I'd seen my share of wife-beaters and rapists, drunkards and menaces to society, but the ones who infuriated me the most were the ones who beat up on and raped their own children. A cold fist of ice curled squeezed around my insides. Oh God no, there would be innocents in the line of fire…

"Mr. Hashiba…you do realize that if you testified with this, we could put those asses away and swallow the key, don't you?" Kento asked carefully.

Rowen shook his head violently. "NO! If that was an option, don'tcha think Ah would have done it bah now?" He was shaking helplessly with supressed emotion, his eyes squeezed shut against threatening tears. "They'd…they'd kill them fahst, officer. That's wheah they've been getting thah money ta keep thea businesses afloat…from _me_. Because if Ah don't pay 'em…they'll s…slaughtah…" Rowen had to stop speaking as his throat closed up around the words. He bowed his head and his shoulders shook with sobs he refused to voice. Ryo, who was sitting next to him, squeezed the blue-haired man's shoulder comfortingly, but he didn't say anything. What _could_ we say to something like that? The Mob had Hashiba backed into the proverbial corner. If he refused to finance their black market ventures, then his family would undoubtedly be put to death. If he went to the police with the news, the same fate would await them, and if the police ever uncovered this operation on their own…I shuddered. The woman and girl would more than likely still be killed, even though Rowen had gone along with the wishes of those bastards the whole time.

I finally broke the silence, after giving him a period of time to compose himself, by clearing my throat.

"Rowen…you know that if you get caught up in this…it could mean your family's death. It might be wiser if you just left here today and pretended none of this ever happened."

He drew himself up with an amazing amount of dignity for a man I would have assumed crushed. "Ah cahn't do that, Ms. Koji." He said, his voice remarkably steady. "Ah cahn't sit back anymore, and wait fah someone else ta fix things fah me. If yah'll have me, Ah'll help."

I rubbed the bridge of my nose, aware that all eyes were on me now. What was I supposed to tell him? That he couldn't come because he'd just get in the way, and get us all caught? That personal matters had no business being involved in something as delicate as this operation? I couldn't do that! Especially not when Sage was sitting right next to me, here for the very same reasons Hashiba wanted to be included; to save a loved one. Besides, he'd already shown himself to be competent in tight situations. The fact that he had a firearm that I knew of under that jacket _somewhere_ was proof enough of that. Then again…maybe I didn't have to make the decision.

I turned and locked my eyes onto Ryo, raising a questioning eyebrow.

"Well?" I asked him. "What do you say? It's your gig, after all. I'm just the hired help." I leaned back against the vinyl seat, crossing my arms over my chest and washing my hands of the whole affair. Mentally I hoped my young client would think it over before allowing Rowen in on this (as I knew he would eventually).

Ah well, wishful thinking never got anyone anywhere.

"We're going to need all the help we can get…" Ryo said thoughtfully. "And he does have a lot of contact with the insiders…who know what we could find out that way?" I had to admit that was a good point I hadn't thought of just yet, though I still didn't like the idea of a man with a personal vendetta against our target joining up with us. Desperate men made stupid moves, often without thinking them through.

"I take it that means your answer's yes?" Sage concluded.

"Pretty much." The tiger-eyed youth nodded.

Oh this just got better and better.

"Aw hell, what am I supposed to tell my superiors at HQ if you get caught?!" Kento grumbled. "Do you realize what a suicide mission this is? The four of you, against everything the goddamn _Mob_ can throw against you? You won't last five minutes!"

"We did alright just barely an hour ago." Ryo retorted.

"And Ah cahn ahffah whatevah financial aid yah may requiah…discreetly, of course…" Rowen offered. Again, another point I'd overlooked. The man had truckloads of money to throw around.

"I'm afraid he's right though." Sage admitted reluctantly. "There were only two of them this first time, and we had the element of surprise on our side."

"Which we can't exactly count on." I pointed out. "Since this bust, they'll be triply careful about who knows about their shipments. And we have to keep in mind that we don't even know who sold you out to Arago in the first place, Sage." My friend made a face at that remark, but nodded. Then a thought occurred to me. "Hold everything just a minute…what _did_ you know about them that could have shut him down?"

"It's kind of a redundant issue now Mia." He sighed. "After I disappeared, they had my home torn to shreds before the police could arrive. Any evidence I had has surely been destroyed. Besides, the felony I had proof of has no doubt been completely covered up and forgotten by now."

I cursed under my breath. The one chance we had of bypassing a confrontation entirely had just flown out the window, and a whooole bunch of complications had come right on in to replace it.

"I still say this is probably the most idiotic thing either of you have ever gotten yourselves into." Kento said to Sage and me.

I just shrugged. "I gave my word. I'm not going to bail out now. There's too much riding on this, no matter how in over my head I may be."

He heaved a sigh, and studied the table-top intently for a moment before turning back to meet my gaze.

"There's no help for it," He said with a rueful twist of his lips. "I'm gonna have to help you out."

"WHAT?! NO!" I stood up, upsetting my coffee cup and spilling the now chill liquid all over. I ignored that. "There's no way in hell I'm going to let you endanger yourself and your career that way! You just happened to stumble onto this, there's nothing tying you into it at all!"

"Isn't there though?" Kento asked mildly. "You and Sage are two of my oldest friends, and I'll be damned if I sit back and watch you put your necks on the line. Besides, didn't you just 'stumble onto it'? Isn't Hashiba here risking _his_ career as well?"

"Yes but…well his family's at stake!"

"Your point?" He just shrugged. "Look, this whole city is under Arago's thumb, whether they know it or not. As long as that bastard and his cronies are free to roam the streets and do whatever they please, then nobody here is safe. At all. You know part of the oath I swore when I took the badge was to protect the citizens of this city. I can't just turn my back Mia. It's a matter of justice."

I groaned and plopped back down, burying my face in my hands. This was all nuts, pure and simple. I did NOT want to have my old friend involved in this. Things would have been just fine if he'd been content to remain a contact on the inside of the police force. But noooo, that damn sense of justice had to intervene. It was going to get him killed one of these days. Then again, if every cop in New York had his kind of ethics and morals, there might just be less of a crime rate.

"Fine." I caved, my voice somewhat muffled by my hands. "You're both in. But if we all get killed, then don't look at me. I warned you." I went about the task of mopping up the spilt coffee with a single-minded intensity.

"We know Mia. But you must have known to begin with that I couldn't just turn my back on this whole thing." Kento said.

"I guess I did, come to think of it.

"Well if that's all decided then," Sage stifled a yawn with one hand, and glanced idly at the wall clock, which now read half past midnight. I hadn't realized I was so tired. Granted, I'd been working much later than this lately, but all of that was starting to catch up with me.

"Right, I vote we call it a night." The yawn made its way around to me, and continued to circle the table until we'd all stretched our jaws. For a moment, all five of us just stared at each other, before we began to laugh. It was a tired kind of laugh, but everyone had needed one, most of all myself. The tension in my shoulders began to ease away, and I felt marginally better.

"Rowen, do you think you can come to my office around, say…noon tomorrow?" I asked the blue-haired man. "I know you have an empire to run and all, but I'm not sure if you're under surveylance by our little friends in the Mob or not."

"Nah, I can come." He waved it off. "S'no big deal. I have a vacation comin' mah way anyway."

"I'll be there too." Kento put in. "I should be able to get off."

I frowned at him. "But if you're working this shift…then what would you be doing on morning duty?"

He just shrugged. "McKenzie came down with that flu-bug that's been goin' around. I'm just covering his shift." I winced in sympathy, knowing full well just how much a 12 hour work day could take out of one.

"Then it's settled, the office at noon tomorrow." I said decisively. Then a sudden rush of fatigue seemed to wash over me, and whatever energy had been sustaining me was suddenly. My shoulders slumped and I yawned behind my hand.

"Yes, it's definitely time to cash it in." Sage chuckled, smiling at me. I managed a sheepish grin in return. Almost as one, all five of us got to our feet. Ryo stretched almost cat-like, knuckling at gritty eyes. Rowen still seemed to have an unholy amount of energy. He must have been one of those night owls.

"Don't worry about the bill Mia." Kento assured me. "I have a tab here."

"Well that's something of a relief," I smiled. "Considering the fact that I'm flat broke at the moment!"

In one of those rare New York occurrences, it was fairly easy for all of us to catch a cab back to our respective residences. I had to wonder, in the back of my mind, what Sage's wife was going to say when she found out he was sleeping on my couch. I could only hope she wasn't a jealous type…or a red head, for that matter. We split the fare and stumbled up to my apartment. I lagged behind Sage, my head drooping from exhaustion, watching my feet more than anything else. By the time we reached the door to my place, I was yawning too hard to think. I reached into my purse for my keys, then stopped. Something was amiss.

My gaze swung to Sage, who wasn't even looking at me. Instead, his eyes were narrowed, and he regarded the door before us as if something potentially dangerous lay on the other side. Very carefully, he twisted the door knob, and it opened on silent hinges. I stared at the hallway before me in shock. I _knew_ I'd locked the door behind me!

"Mia?" My friend asked quietly, but I wasn't paying attention. My temper had already been frayed to the breaking point by all the other monumental events of this past evening. I did NOT need to come home only to find this.

I'd been robbed.


	7. Chapter 7

tiger

I got off my butt and wrote a little more ^_______________^ I'm so proud of me.

~

"I….can _not_ believe this!" I gasped, surveying the ruins of my apartment. My entire home had been trashed; pictures had been torn from the walls, my TV and stereo had been smashed in, pillows from the couch had been torn, their innards scattered around the living room like tufts of snow. The entire contents of the refrigerator had been splattered all over my kitchen floor, and the cupboards were hanging on broken hinges. The window was shattered, like a wide maw with its teeth of jagged glass gaping at me mockingly. And I didn't even want to think about the wreck of my bedroom…

"How…I mean, why?!" I was in something of shock. It seemed odd to me that no one had heard anything or come running. The amount of ruckus damage like this must have caused should have brought investigators! That crotchety old man upstairs who always complained about the noise level must have heard it, at least!

Sage emerged from my bedroom, his expression somewhere between grim anger and confusion. 

"Well?" I asked him, fearing the news of what might have been stolen. 

"Nothing." He shook his head, and I felt both my eyebrows shoot upwards. "It's a mess in there, and somebody found that false bottom in your drawer, so your jewelry's all over the place, but none of it's missing, I don't think."

"What!? That's not possible! Why would anyone break in, and not make off with all my jewelry at least?!" I didn't get it. It just didn't make sense!

"Because this wasn't a robbery." Sage sighed, pushing his hair out of his face. "This was a warning."

"What do you mean?" I felt my stomach clench ominously. 

"I mean that this wasn't done by any two bit crook. I'd bet my life on the fact that the Mob must have set this up, to scare you off the case."

I stared at him in shock, sure that I must have heard wrong. "But, they don't know that I'm involved in this! How could they?"

He smiled humorlessly, shaking his head at me. "Do you remember that other man, at the docks? The one that ran away?"

My lips formed a little 'o' of surprise. It was possible, I supposed. 

"You think he saw me and recognized me?"

Sage nodded. "I'm almost sure of it. These guys know every PI in the city, just in case. They never would have suspected you, just because of the cases you specialize in, but if that man saw you and reported it, they'd take steps."

"Right." I agreed, accepting what he had said. "But how would they get my address?! Do they know that much about me?!" The thought was enough to freak me out all over again. This evening was playing hell on my nerves.

"No, I wouldn't think so." He frowned. "But they would know where your office is…"

My eyes widened in horror. "If they trashed my office too, looking for my home address…then what if they found…"

"Kayla's?!" Sage gasped. "Oh God, you gave her the day off. And it's late, she would have been at home!"

I snatched the phone out of its cradle, pressing the receiver to my ear and reaching for speed dial. The buzzing noise rang through my skull, and I squeezed my eyes shut and begged for someone to pick up on the other side…the phone must have rung a good fifteen times before I heard my name being called.

"Mia." Sage touched my arm, drawing my attention. "She's either not home, or she can't answer the phone. Either way, we have to get over there _now_!" I nodded and grabbed my purse, since my key ring was stowed away there, and the key to Kayla's apartment was on that ring. 

We clattered down the stairs of the apartment building, leaving the door wide open behind us. What was the point, anyway? 

This late at night, there wouldn't be much in the way of cabs, and I doubted that any would be coming down my street right when I happened to need one. We didn't even stop to hail one, we just kept on racing down the street, shoving aside any poor pedestrians and passers-by that were unlucky enough to be in our way.

The entire interlude was a complete blur. My feet ached from running in pumps, and my chest felt as though an iron band had been wrapped around it. Some small part of my mind noted that I was really out of shape.

Before I knew it, Sage and I were running up the stairs to Kayla's apartment, our footfalls echoing loudly off the whitewashed walls. I didn't even have to go through my purse for the keys; like the door to my apartment, Kayla's was wide open. Again, that small part of my mind wondered why no one had even bothered to look in. This must have made some kind of noise!

Enough wondering. We had to find Kayla. 

I picked my way through the debris in the front room. Kayla's apartment opened up into a kind of coatroom, entering into the kitchen, which segued off into the living room and the hallway to the rest of the apartment. Someone has smashed the kitchen chairs into splinters, and all the crockery was in shards. The lights were out, and only the illumination from the streetlights filtering in through the broken screen of the window lit the scene.

"Check the backrooms." Sage instructed me, heading for the living room himself. I nodded and headed down the hallway, sticking my head into each room as I went. It seemed to me that though things had been upended, broken and generally appeared to have been hit by a whirlwind, nothing had been looted. So Sage's guess had to been correct. This _was_ just a warning. My blood ran chill as I realized how bad things could have been if they'd intended anything serious.

I'd already inspected the bathroom, spare room, and study…but the bedroom was at the end of the hall. My heart clenched in my chest. So far, there had been no shout from Sage, telling me he'd found her. So that left only the room beyond the door before me. Some small part of me still hoped desperately that she hadn't been home at the time of the break-in…but that was so unlikely the possibility was practically non-existant.

"Kayla?" I stepped into the room, taking it all in with a quick turn of my head. The pillows and the down comforter had been slashed wide open, covering the room with a faint dusting of feathery snow. I walked slowly forward, frowning as I searched. Small eddies of goosedown swirled upwards around my feet as I made my way. I paused on the right side of the bed, feeling an immense amount of relief. Some way or another, she just hadn't been home. A tiny smile tugged at my lips.

Then I heard the groan.

My heart stopped squeezing and jumped up into my throat, intent on choking me. I looked around wildly, certain that someone else was in the room with me. A horrible suspicion occurred to me, and I crawled over the top of the bed, peering over the side.

Sprawled in an awkward pile of limbs, feathers, and sheets was my best friend. I screamed for Sage and scrambled off the bed, on my knees beside her in a moment. I frantically brushed away the feathers and strands of chestnut hair, searching for a pulse. My hands were shaking like leaves in the wind, and it took a conscious effort to steady them.

A strong, fluttering beat under my fingers eased some of the tension from my shoulders. At least she was still alive. Sage burst through the doorframe at that moment. Since I was crouched on the far side of the bed, away from the door, he paused for a brief second before noticing me.

"How is she?" He asked anxiously, kneeling beside me.

"Alright, I think." I said shortly, searching for any injuries. A large bruise on her temple spoke of a blow to the head, and her left arm was twisted at an unnatural angle. I swallowed a soft sob as she groaned when Sage reached over and prodded the obviously broken limb.

"Call an ambulance." He advised me distractedly. "Her arm's broken, and there's the possibility of a concussion."

I nodded and jumped to my feet, racing into the study to fumble for the receiver with hands that were suddenly shaking once more. Since I'd gotten a dial tone when we'd tried to call earlier, it was obviously still connected. I punched in 911 and held the receiver to my ear, praying for a swift pick up.

"911, what is your emergency?" A slightly detached voice on the other end of the line inquired robotically.

I quickly informed the emotionless voice about the breaking and entering, and that Kayla could be seriously injured. We didn't know, after all, if any of her ribs had been broken, or if there were any internal injuries. A few moments later, after giving them the address and phone number, the voice promised a police car and ambulance would be dispatched as soon as possible.

Of course, in a city like New York, that wasn't much of a promise.

I paced back and forth in the ruins of the living room, taking deep breaths to compose myself. Sage stayed back with Kayla, perhaps trying to coax her back into consciousness. But I couldn't go back there…I couldn't see her like that. It was too horrible for me to face. A slow, hot feeling spread through my limbs, an unfamiliar sensation that I just couldn't understand.

A high pitched wailing approached from off in the distance, growing ever closer. Alternating flashes of blue and red spun around the apartment's walls, glaring brightly off the framed photos and paint-prints in their wooden frames. The pounding of feet echoed up the stairwell just before paramedics burst through the open door, a stretcher between them. Wordlessly, I pointed down the hall to the bedroom, and they brushed past me without even a nod of acknowledgement. Not that it mattered much to me.

In seemingly no time at all, the same two men were hurrying back towards the door, Kayla's limp form lying prone on the stretcher. Sage came out after them, and we both followed the medics down the stairwell and out onto the street. I could only watch numbly as they moved my friend's body onto a gurney, and then moved that into the ambulance.

One of the men spared a moment to give us the address of the hospital they'd be taking Kayla to. I stowed the name and numbers in the back of my mind and watched as the ambulance pulled away.

I clenched my hands into fists at my side. Suddenly I recognized that feeling in the pit of my stomach…it was rage. I'd never actually felt something that hot and horrible before. It was almost like poison seeping through my veins. 

They'd broken into my home and shattered most of my valuables, but that was no big deal, in the big scheme of things. That might even have worried me enough to actually put me off the trail. But by attacking my friend, _in her own home_, a place of safety, no less, all the thugs had achieved was to royally piss me off.

Those bastards in the Mob couldn't have picked a better way to make me _more_ determined to solve this case if they'd tried.

Now it was personal.

I hadn't realized I was clenching my teeth so tight until my jaw started to ache. A police car pulled up while I was lost in thought, battling the hatred for the faceless individual that had threatened all I held dear. Two policemen spilled from the vehicle, one of them dashing up the stairs, the other crossing over to Sage and me. I sighed and tried to think of something to say. Sage squeezed my shoulder briefly, giving me an understanding nod before pulling the cop aside. A hushed conversation occurred while I puzzled things over.

No, I wasn't going to give up on this. Not now. Not after this. For one thing, Kayla would kill me for being scared off so easily. For another, I wouldn't be able to look at myself in the mirror anymore. I'd just dragged Kento and Rowen into it, even though they'd offered their services. 

Up until now, I hadn't really understood the motives of the men I'd been working with. Ryo was in this to get back his best friend, Sage was in it to rescue his wife, Rowen wanted his family back, and even Kento had personal ties, since he had given his word to protect the city at any cost. They all had deep, distinct reasons for wanting the Mob to be brought down, but I'd just been in it because it was what I'd been paid to do. But _nobody_ screws around with my friends and family and gets away with it.

But things were going to be a whole lot more difficult now, especially since the Mob knew who I was, knew what I was up to, and could keep an eye on me.

Which meant I'd have to reschedule tomorrow's meeting, since the office was probably a wreck too. There were ways to avoid watchers, and not every phone line in the city could be tapped, so I had to get a hold of Rowen, Ryo, and Kento between now and tomorrow morning. They probably would be a little cross over losing even more sleep, but it couldn't be helped.

Speaking of which…what time was it anyway?

I glanced at my watch and blinked in surprise to find that it was nearly two in the morning. And it was just going to get worse.

"Mia?" Sage asked softly, coming up behind me. "We have to go downtown and answer a few questions…" I could hear a resigned note in his voice, and knew he'd been looking forward to a little extra sleep as much as I had. Drat it all, no rest for the wicked, as they say.

"I know, I know." I sighed. "I kind of saw that coming. But…well what are we going to tell them?! I can guarantee you that Kento's not on shift, so we won't have anyone to cover for us."

He just shrugged. "We tell them the truth." He raised a hand to still my protests. "No not _all_ of it, of course. We'll leave out the part about Rowen, since he can't afford for the police to know. And with any luck no one else around HQ will recognize me"

"And if that 'little luck' has deserted us totally?" I snorted wryly, raising an eyebrow.

"Then we explain that too." Sage said firmly. "You know as well as I do that the NYPD can't afford to give us much in the way of official help. The Mob has too many influential people higher up. People with purse strings in their hands."

I shook my head. "You're talking about government officials!"

"And is that really so surprising?" He murmured softly, indicating that I should lower my voice. "Think of all the cases that have been thrown out, or where someone's looked the other way."

"This sounds an awful lot like a conspiracy theory to me." I couldn't keep the skepticism out of my voice. 

"No, not a conspiracy theory." Sage shook his head. "I'm not _that_ paranoid. But someone is controlling things. If we succeed in shutting down the branch of Mob activities here in New York, then we'll be dealing them a fatal blow."

"Not 'if'," I corrected him. "'When'. I'm not going to let this happen again, thank you very much." Even I wasn't too sure what I meant by 'this', whether it was the whole crime ring, or just this attack on Kayla and myself.

Sage just smiled and nodded, understanding completely. He slid a companionable arm around my shoulders and I leaned against him, stifling a yawn by the barest of margins. After the day I'd just had, I was convinced I'd earned a few hours sleep. But I still had one last task to do…fill out a report for both break-ins. 

Things just weren't going my way.


	8. Chapter 8

The Tiger Who Knew Too Much, Chapter 6 (*gasp of shock*.....Lily got off her ass and wrote!!! WHOA!!! Anyway, I do believe CT made mention of Dais and Sehkie's absences. Put your hands together for the psychotic snake everybody! *smirk* I just know I'm gonna get smacked for that description)  The Tiger Who Knew Too Much  
Chapter 8  
By  
Lily of Trust 

The following morning dawned bright and fair, if one ignored the fact that the sunlight was somewhat dimmed down by the smog. I groped blindly for my alarm-clock to silence the shrill shrieking. It figured that one of the few unbroken items I owned was that damned annoying piece of machinery. 

I uncurled from my twisted blankets and looked around the debris filling my room. After returning home the night before, neither Sage nor I had been in much of a mood for cleaning. So we did the next best thing and shoved it all down to the floor. I picked my way carefully over to a pile of clothes that had been torn from my closet, and sorted through them for something suitable to wear on a business outing. There were a few things that I wanted to accomplish today, and time certainly wasn't going to run backwards for me to finish them. 

A few minutes later, after running a brush through my hair and twisting it up into a bun, I dressed in a mint-green pantsuit and cream colored blouse. After all, we were going to see a multi-billionaire, and it would undoubtedly seem odd for us to do so in jeans and a T-shirt.

"I see you figured out the dress code as well." I said to Sage as I entered the livingroom, a slight smile tugging at my lips at the sight of the khakis and dress shirt.

He just shrugged in response. "No point in attracting any attention. I'm not so sure this is a very good idea. If the Mob knows who we are now, and they see us speaking to Rowen, it could mean trouble for his family."

I nodded absently, grabbing my purse from the hook on the mudroom wall. "Yeah, I know. That's why I called ahead and made an appointment with the head of the accounting department. Anyone tracing the calls thinks I've taken up a new embezzlement case."

"Very sneaky." Sage chucked admiringly, one golden eyebrow arched. "I didn't know you were so devious."

"When it suits me to be." I replied, shrugging. I wasn't in much of a mood for conversation at this point. To put it quite bluntly: I. Needed. Sleep. A hell of a lot more than I'd been getting lately. It took more make-up than I was comfortable with to hide those darkening circles under my eyes.

Kayla was right; I really did need a vacation.

Just thinking of her made my heart squeeze. I reaffirmed my promise to shut down this branch of the crime-scene in _my_ city.

"So let me get this straight." Sage began as we hailed a taxi and gave the cabbie the directions. "First thing on the agenda is a conference with Hashiba, which we _hope_ nobody notices." I nodded mutely, keeping my eyes focussed on the back of the seat before me. "Second item…? Is there a second item?"

"Sure there is." I replied without turning to look at him. "I'm just not telling you what it is right now, that's all."

The next thing I knew, he had my shoulder in an iron grip and twisted me around to face him. His other hand caught my chin and forced my eyes up to lock onto his. I saw a cold anger there that, to be quite honest, scared the living daylights out of me.

"Mia." He said quietly, as if not wanted to alert the cabbie. No real problem there; the guy probably overheard more incriminating news in a day than any espionage specialist. "I know how upset you are over last night, but if you keep on like this, you're going to get us all killed. It's important that we all know whatever plans you might have, so nothing goes wrong!"

"I know this isn't some game." I shot back. "I just can't tell you what we're doing, because you'd try to talk me out of it, and its necessary. Have a little faith, would you?"

"I could ask the same of you." He murmured softly before releasing me. I resisted the urge to rub at my shoulder and turned my gaze back out the window, running the conversation I'd had on the phone last night through my head. Sage had been out cold on the couch when I'd called the second person on Kayura's list. Just thinking about the place he'd requested to meet gave me the chills. The less my blonde friend knew at the moment, the better. I did feel a brief pang of guilt at keeping these things from him, but he probably would suspect a trap…

My thoughts hit a brick wall and splatted into nothingness as we stopped right outside the high-rise office building that housed Rowen's corporation. Forty-five stories of steel, concrete, and plate glass. Whoa.

"If you keep staring like that you'll get a crick in your neck." I could tell from the tone of Sage's voice that he was grinning.

"You are not funny this early in the morning." I muttered, my voice slightly off key due to the fact that my neck was bent nearly at a 90 degree angle.

"How were you planning on getting in to see Rowen? After all, you don't exactly know which office is his."

"We'll just ask around a bit." I replied. I hated having to fly by the seat of my pants, but the chances that the phone in Rowen's office was bugged were just too high.

One of the several receptionists checked through the appointment listings for that day and gave me the room number for the head of the accounting department. I thanked her with a smile and headed for one of the large elevators off to the right. We got lucky in that there was very little traffic going through the building at the moment, and the one we entered was absent of other people.

Inspection of the buttons along the elevator's inside wall showed that each floor was labeled with the name of the department located upon it. I scowled at the little slot next to the button designated with 'Coorperate level' as the doors thumped shut behind us. Apparently, we needed some kind of…access card.

"Well that's just great…" I humphed, not noticing that Sage had pulled something from his pocket and was inspecting the button panel intently. The movement caught my attention, and I stared at him curiously.

"What are you doing?"

"Just hush for a moment." He said absently, and began to unscrew the metal plate. I wondered why he'd had a screwdriver in his pocket…

The panel fell outward, hanging to the wall by an intricate mass of tangled and intertwined wires. Red, blue, green, and yellow, they were just a mess to me. But it seemed my blonde companion knew exactly what he was doing. He pulled the pane gently, tugging it loose so that it now dangled above the carpeted floor. Handling the screwdriver with deft efficiency, Sage prodded amongst the wires, searching for the one connected to the back of the button which led to the floor we needed. After a few moments, he triumphantly pried it loose from amongst its fellows, and went in search of another wire.

I could only watch in confused fascination as he carefully rerouted several different circuits using a set of wire cutters he must have had in his jacket. A few sparks crackled between the lines as he screwed the panel back into place. Replacing the screwdriver and cutters in his pocket, he punched the button for the floor we needed. The elevator complied with the request by jerking to life and beginning it's move upward.

Sage hummed idly along with that monotonous elevator music through the entire ascension. I just stared at him in complete surprise. 

"Did you just…hotwire the elevator?" I asked carefully

"Is that what it looked like to you?" He replied, his voice almost unbearably smug. I narrowed my eyes at him, but couldn't keep the grin from pulling at my lips.

"I'm not even going to ask where you learned how to do that."

"Very wise of you."

The elevator ground to a halt, and the doors _dinged_ open. Acting as if we had every reason to be on the floor, Sage and I stepped out into the hallway.

"Now I suppose we just search around until we find a sign?" He muttered sardonically. I did a double take as I realized that he hadn't even moved his lips when he'd asked me that! He did ventriloquism too?! Geez, how much about him _didn't_ I know?!

"Well we can't ask anyone." I hissed back, trying to emulate his talent. "They might remember we came searching for Rowen and tell that to somebody we don't want finding out. Besides, we're supposed to know our way around. We _belong_ here, remember?"

"Then what do you suggest?"

"Uhm…search the nameplates on the doors?" I ventured weakly. Maybe he was right. Maybe I should have thought this through a little more completely.

Sage rolled his eyes, and I sensed a feeling of exasperation. "Mia, don't you ever watch the news?"

"What's that got to do with anything?"

"A few weeks ago, there was a bomb threat on this building, in Hashiba's office. I remember seeing it. They were saying that the office was the large one on the northwest corner. Therefore, that's where we go."

"Where would I be without you?" I asked quietly, smiling in spite of myself. I'd had my reservations about taking a partner in this case, but they had been erased now.

"Wandering in circles, obviously."

"No need to be snide about it." I chided him, taking a right turn at the next intersection of hallways. This place was like a multi floor maze. We passed several suited employees, but bluffed out our right to be there. Within a relatively short span of time, we stood before the antechamber of Hashiba's office.

"Small problem." Sage murmured, jerking his chin slightly in the direction of the receptionist sitting behind a desk. I narrowed my eyes and peered closely at the nameplate on the oaken wood. A grin appeared on my face.

"Sage, run back down to the ground floor and ask the front desk to page Ms. McPhearson, would you?"

An echoing smile pulled at his lips as he nodded. "I'll be right back."

I leaned back against the wall, making a show of checking my watch in exasperation as if waiting for someone. Those employees who did give me a glance generally smiled sympathetically and continued on their way.

Ten minutes later, the exasperation was anything but feigned. It hadn't taken us that long to get in! I was all set to go searching the immense building for him, when Ms. McPhearson strode past me, down towards the lobby. I looked around anxiously, waiting perhaps another five minutes before Sage came back into view.

"What kept you?!" I hissed. He shrugged apologetically.

"Someone noticed that we messed with the elevator." He explained. "I had to re-wire one of the others. I can only hope they don't connect it to us."

"They wouldn't have any valid reason to..." I mused, frowning slightly. Damn, but I hated loose ends. Shaking my head dismissively, I turned and beckoned Sage to follow. "Come on, we have a job to do, remember?" Though my back was turned to him, I could practically _feel _him rolling his eyes.

We strode confidently towards the large double doors. Sage and I exchanged a glance and a shrug, and he raised his fist to rap politely on the door three times.

There was no response from inside, which meant either Hashiba wasn't there, was too engrossed in his work to notice the paltry sound, or people generally entered after knocking anyway. I dreaded the first, could readily believe the second, and suspected it to be the third. Deciding not to wait for a reply, I pushed down on the door handle and stepped inside the room.

The corner office was large, and extremely well lit. The two walls which faced outward into the city were mostly window, and let in large amounts of the autumn sunlight from outside. This high up, the view was above most of the smog and accumulated car exhaust, and though all you really saw was the glittering expanse of metal, chrome and glass that was New York City, it was still a spectacularly breathtaking view. The entire office was more or less plushly furnished, deep pile carpeting, elegant looking leather upholstered chairs, and a huge mahogany desk. Behind which sat the man we sought. 

Rowen looked up from his paperwork and blinked almost owlishly at us. A pair of wire rimmed glasses perched on the end of his nose, and his hair straggled down over the tops of them. Dark circles smudged the skin beneath his eyes. He looked pretty much the way I felt, hassled, harried, and in need of sleep not induced by exhaustion or Nyquil(TM). 

His blue eyes widened at the site of us, and he glanced beyond us to the reception area.

"How didja...."

"Get in?" I fought back a grin. "Trade secret."

"You might want to have someone check out the elevator." Sage said with a perfectly straight face. "At the moment, it's something of a security risk."

Rowen sat back in his seat and tugged the glasses loose. He tossed them onto his desk and looked up at us both with a slight smile.

"So, y'all got up here 'thout clearance? Why does this not sahprise me?"

I pulled up one of the high-backed leather chairs and sat down, crossing my legs at the knee and settling my elbows on my thighs.

"We didn't want to take the chance of anyone tracing our visit here to seeing you," I explained. "Especially after last night."

"Why _did_ ya call me and cancel our meetin'?" Rowen raised an eyebrow questioningly. 

Sage sighed. "After we returned home, we found that Mia's apartment had been ransacked. Someone broke in as a warning." He too claimed a chair. "However, they also found her secretary's address..."

Rowen gaped. "Is she alright?!"

I nodded. "The doctors said she'd be fine. Her arm is fractured in two places, but she'll recover." Somehow, I managed to say it with a minimum of emotion. Rowen nodded his understanding; maybe he'd read something in my expression that I'd missed.

"We didn't want to take the chance of them noticing you coming to see me, since it seems we're under surveillance now as well." I continued. "This way's slightly safer."

Rowen nodded again. "What're you plannin' on doin' next?"

Sage crossed his arms and tilted his head to the side. "Yes Mia, do enlighten us."

Oh I hated it when he got all self righteous. I tossed my hair over my shoulder and sat up a little straighter.

"Last night, while at the Police Station, I contacted the next name on the list." I reached into my purse and withdrew the scrap of paper Kayura had given to me. It was a little tattered now, but still legible.

"How did you find the number?" Sage asked, looking slightly surprised.

"This is HQ we're talking about." I sniffed. "They have some pretty extensive records. I figured the phones there would be safe enough, since the police are undoubtedly rather paranoid about phone calls being overheard."

"Why didn't you want to tell me that we were going to be seeing this man later today?" Sage asked, eyes narrowing in suspicion. 

I fidgeted in my chair a bit. "Because he's currently in a home for the mentally unstable."

"WHAT!?" Both of the men in the room were up and out of their chairs and shouting at me. I clamped my hands over my ears and waited for the storm to pass.

"Mia, you're going to speak to a psychopath?!" Sage demanded in disbelief. "Have you lost your mind?!"

"Ms. Koji, Ah hate ta point it out...but he's got a point." Rowen acknowledged. "Besides, if he's in a nuthouse, how reliable is the info likely ta be?"

I sighed. "I admit, it's a pretty sketchy lead, but at the moment we're at a dead end! The doctor I spoke with told me that our man is coherent most of the time, and doesn't even need the straight jacket....often."

Neither of them looked very reassured.

"You don't have to come." I said, getting to my feet. I felt so much better that way, as I topped them both by an inch or so. "I can take care of myself perfectly well. Who's going to hurt me in a mental ward?"

"You most certainly are _not_ going by yourself." The glare Sage directed towards me had effectively silenced stronger souls. 

I sighed and rolled by eyes heavenward. "Fine then. Though you obviously can't come with us, Hashiba."

Rowen smiled ruefully. "Oh Ah know. Too much work ta get done." He waved a hand at the massive stacks of paperwork. "Ah appreciate y'all droppin' by and bringin' me up ta date though." He ran a hand back through his disheveled hair. "Anythin' that gets us closah to takin' down the Mob is alright by me."

Sage nodded reluctantly. "I suppose that is the correct outlook..."

I smiled at them both. This had been so much easier than I'd expected. But then, I hadn't counted on Rowen being the voice of reason.

"I called Ryo and Kento earlier, and they agreed to meet us there around one." I informed them. "They weren't too happy about it either, but I suppose they see the need for it."

"It's a quarter to noon at the moment." Sage murmured, tugging his sleeve back and glancing down at his watch. "Do you have the address for this...place?"

"Mmhmm....Shikaisen's Home For The Clinically Insane. It's outside the city limits, on the New Jersey side."

Rowen and Sage stared at me for a moment. I shrugged abashedly and coughed.

"Well I didn't make up the name!" I said defensively. 


End file.
